Old Bones

A half century, man. Five decades. I hit the big 5-0 a few days ago. There was no blinding flash of realization or wisdom, no sudden descent into oldness, no onslaught of depression. Just another year going by.

That doesn't mean it's not significant, of course. The strange part for me is how quickly the years have gone by. Seems like I just celebrated my 40th. Now I've got two teenagers and a few more gray hairs. In five short years, I'll have two kids in college and life will be really weird.

It's odd to think of myself as being this age. When my dad turned 50, it was 1990, I was 23 and he seemed much older than he actually was. It didn't help that he was both an alcoholic and a diabetic, both of which had ravaged his body and made him look like he was 70. I know I'm in much better shape than he ever was, so I don't feel like an old man. Of course, I'm definitely dealing with some old guy stuff, like a sore back and various aches and pains, but that's part of the price I pay for staying physically active. I'll take that over being a flabby blob any damn day.

Unlike my 40th, which came and went with little fanfare, we did things up big for the 50th celebration. We had a big gathering at the Notch taproom last night, with about 50 friends showing up to toast to my geezerdom. It was a great time, reminiscent of the big parties we routinely threw in the days before kids. And yeah, I was a little hung over this morning, but it was nothing compared to some of those old party days.

So here I am, into a new decade of existence. The future is unwritten, as Joe Strummer once said. It's hard to know what to expect, but I've got some good role models in terms of friends who have already traversed this territory, so I think I'll be okay.