It's crazy that the '20s is the seventh decade I've been part of. Pretty much all of my direct co-workers are between 22 and 35, so I'm sort of the de facto repository of experiences prior to 1990. I don't mind it. It's not like I'm some goddamn grandpa or anything, but man, it's weird to think that I graduated from college 30+ years ago. I'm 52, but aside from the gray/thinning hair and sore back, I still feel and act a lot younger than my dad did at the same age. And I'm about the same age as Paul Newman was in Slap Shot, so maybe that's a more realistic comparison (looks and acting ability aside, of course).
The 2010s were a busy decade for us. Ten years ago, my kids were 5 and 7 (about to turn 6 and 8) and now, we've got a high school sophomore and senior. Lily's about to begin driver's ed and Hannah's waiting to hear back from colleges. It's a very exciting time, but 10 years ago, they were still little kids. It's been fun to watch them grow into young women with very distinct personalities and it's going to be even more fun to see how they turn out as adults. College is on the very near horizon and as scary as that will be financially, it's going to be especially strange to not have them around the house. People talk about getting excited for their kids to leave the nest and all that, but I'm going to miss them. Hannah's going somewhere in about 8 and half months, possibly as far away as Canada, and it will be very weird after 18 years to not have her here.
I ran my last marathon in 2010. It was Providence in May and it was another one of those 80+ degree affairs that left me dehydrated by mile 20 and walking by mile 23. Not fun. I signed up for another that fall but got injured and dropped down to the half. After that, I decided that running half marathons is much easier on the body and soul, so I've done one or two every year since then. I've continued doing the Reach the Beach relay in NH; I've done it every year since 2009. There have been on-and-off struggles with Achilles tendonitis over the years. I went to an exercise physiologist a few years back who gave me a stretching regime that helps me do what I want to do. Right now, I'm running three times a week and looking to do another half this spring. I'm not as fast as I was five years ago, but part of that is because I packed on a few extra pounds last year that I need to get rid of.
I'm also playing hockey more than I used to. I was skating with a Wednesday night pickup group in 2010 and I'm still doing that, even though it keeps me out until 12:30-1 a.m. But I also skate in a Monday night league at Endicott College and on Saturdays with a group at Pingree. It's fun and it's a good way to mix in some cardio.
On the work front, I'm still at the same company that I started the last decade at, sort of. We were in Marblehead when 2010, moved to a new office in Danvers at the end of that year and then saw things go really bad in 2012. But we were bought by another company in 2013 and things have stabilized since then. We moved to a new location in Middleton in 2016, which is only a quiet 20-minute commute for me. My job changed a few times over the decade, but I like what I'm doing now, which is (among other things) serving as the editor of one of our media properties. It's fun, I get to travel a bit and it's different than what I've for most of the 24 years I've worked at this company.
One of the reasons I don't have a lot of time to blog is I've been doing a fair amount of stuff in my spare time, including writing a running column for the Salem News (which I started doing in 2008) and a column for New England Soccer Journal. My podcast has been quietly plugging along since 2006; I don't do it weekly anymore, but I did 22 episodes last year, which isn't bad. And then there's the radio show, Stuck In Thee Garage, which I've been doing weekly since BFF.fm went on the air in 2013. It's a blast and I plan to do it as long as I can.
I'm still going to concerts somewhat regularly, which for me means maybe once a month. I can't go to all the shows I'd like to, and honestly, I don't want to. But I still love seeing live music and that's not going to change, even though I'm usually one of the older dudes at some of these shows. The music industry has been struggling from a sales standpoint, since nobody buys albums anymore. It's all about streaming. I still like to own music, especially since I need to as I put together my radio show, but fortunately I'm on some good PR lists and get review copies of a lot of albums. There's still plenty of great music out there (see my last post on the best of 2019), but it's definitely harder to get noticed in this post-radio and video world, especially for rock acts.
Life's also gotten more challenging for my mom, who's still living on her own in NH but is having trouble dealing with various health challenges. We have a visiting caregiver see her three days a week to help with basic tasks and I go up every weekend, but we're starting to look at assisted-living facilities. It's tough getting old.
It's been a strange trip on a national level over the last 10 years. We were in Obama's first term a decade ago and things were looking up and now we're in the second term of Trump and things are weird, man. I can't even imagine who will be president in 2030.
So off we go. Let's make the best of it, such as it is. Just watch out for President Ogie Oglethorpe.
No comments:
Post a Comment