I am 39 and 366/366ths
Yep, it’s that day.
This year my birthday is a day for reflection.
This is the first year that my body is starting to get creaky. In the last 2 years I’ve gotten reading glasses and I’ve learned how NOT to move my muscles suddenly when I’m just waking up. I’m aging, but generally healthy. It could be worse.
This is also the year that I realize that some doors have closed. There are just some things that I could have done, but which I can no longer do because I didn’t take that side of the fork in the road. There are things that I never could have done (I was never going to be an NBA star). There are things that I have done. This is the year that I realize that there are things that I didn’t do, and the opportunity is gone. I don’t regret the decisions but it’s sad to see the closed doors.
This past year has also been a rough but fruitful year. I spent a LOT of time outside of my comfort zone. In some ways that has paid off. In other ways I’ve bounced off some metaphorical walls at high speed. Some of this has produced personal growth and a lot hasn’t. Ironically, most of the “new” things in my life are actually a return to a part of my past.
I have made a number of new friends in the past year both locally and nationally. I cherish those friendships. I have been able to help a few of these new friends with their lives and goals and that is gratifying.
Probably the most rewarding part of my life in the last year has been my work with the youth group at church. I love our kids, and watching them grow has been wonderful. Sunday evenings have been a very bright spot in my life.
Life with Carolyn continues to be wonderful. I think we’ve reached the beginning of the “growing old together” stage of life. It’s good. Every day I learn something new about her (or gain a new story – there are LOTS of those) and yet we know each other so well that we’ve reached the point one or two words speak volumes. (“Do you know where …” – “Here you go” – and it’s exactly what she was looking for.)
And our cats are still as snuggly as ever.
It could have been better, and it could have been worse. One more year in the books.
p.s. – Happy Birthday, Harry!
Young Adult – not anymore
Next week, I have a birthday. This birthday ends in a zero, and puts me at the upper limit of what the PC(USA) denomination considers a “young adult”.
(Note – this is not a call for well wishes or gifts. However, my e-mail address is in the column on the left if you are so inclined. 
)
Carolyn and I are in a strange spot. We are childless by choice, and at that age where most of our friends are having children (or in some cases have children as old as teenagers). We don’t quite fit in the world of folks “our age”, because we aren’t sharing the same experiences.
At the same time, we’re not finding that we have a ton in common with the folks who are behind us in years but also childless. These are the true young adults – the not-yet-married, the under-40-not-gonna-get-married, and the married-without-children. Don’t get me wrong – I love my friends in this group. It’s just that I feel a little different from them. Carolyn and I have been married for over 13 years at this point – most of the young adult friends that I have aren’t married at all and those that are haven’t been married quite so long.
I’m also feeling my age. My hairline is headed north at a rate faster than average (thanks to my family tree, it seems). I’m starting to feel creaky in places. I need reading glasses sometimes. My mother was apparently more dismayed than me last December when she noticed the amount of gray in my hair (well, what’s left of my hair) – and the implications for her in having a son with gray hair.
I think I’ve crossed the line. I don’t feel like a young adult anymore. If we’d had children I’d probably have crossed the line at least 5 years ago. I now find myself saying and doing things that my parents used to do – I catch myself saying “Shoot. I sound like my parents”.
Each person crosses this line in their own time. I know folks over 40 who are still young adults at heart. I know folks under 30 who are no longer young adults. I just get this feeling that some time in the last 5 years, I crossed the line without noticing. I’m noticing now because there will shortly be a zero in my age.
And it’s just as it should be.
Presbyopic Presbyterian
As I mentioned last week, I have aged sufficiently that I now need reading glasses. I picked them up last night.
I’m still adjusting. They worked really well reading in bed last night. Today I’m using them with the computer. I’m getting minor headaches, but I suspect that’s just my brain adjusting. I’m also still learning all of the “glasses” stuff like how not to forget them, how to keep them clean, when to use and when not to use them (these readers make anything beyond computer monitor distance blurry). Any suggestions are appreciated.
This is gonna be a busy end of week and next week.
Tonight – NJ Devils home opener (which we are likely to skip – Carolyn is a bit sick)
Tomorrow evening – Trenton Titans season ticket pickup party
Saturday – Camp Johnsonburg fundraising golf tournament
Sunday – Carolyn and my 12th wedding anniversary
Tuesday – ASME Trenton Section (Carolyn is a member) dinner – “Great Engineering Disasters”
Thursday – open house for employee families at my office (with free food)
Saturday 10/21 – the first day of New Member Classes for church, plus a cross-country flight in the afternoon for my flight training
I need one of those double-wicked candles.
I’m old
Went to the eye doctor last night.
I was having some headaches at work since the move. They’ve mostly subsided, leading me to believe that rather than a vision problem they were caused by outgassing carpets, cubicles, and new A/C system (the building was completely renovated for us). However, my near vision has been getting farther away. I can read without trouble, but after a while it gets tiring.
The eye doctor concluded that I have no glaucoma and that my vision had declined from an above-average 20/15 to just 20/20 now. My near focal distance has increased.
Last, after some playing around with lenses, he concluded that I “accepted” a minimal reading correction. So we ordered my first pair of glasses – only 0.5 strength. I had suggested just getting “drug store” glasses, but he said that he didn’t think they came in a prescription that weak.
I’m old.
(And yes, I know that many of you have been wearing glasses for years. This is more about the degradation of my vision due to age than it is about vision in general.)
How Rude! Human Kleenex
The BushFlash website has this video clip, showing our President reaching over and using the sweater of an unsuspecting woman to clean his glasses during a commercial break on the David Letterman show.
How rude is that? At least he didn’t wipe his nose!
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