Something about turning 50 makes you stop and take stock of your life. It’s not as bad as when you turn 40 which is about the time you realize your life is about to end and you’ve done nothing but goof off. Your forties progress and you calm down and begin to understand that your life is really just getting started and that some of the hard work you’ve done is starting to pay dividends.
Fifty pops up and you sit back a moment and once again take a mental snapshot of your life and times. It’s a much calmer session than it was ten years earlier, but you still fret a little about whether you’re still on the right path, made the right choices, having a positive impact on your family, friends and colleagues. The really fun surprise party makes a difference.
Blink and you’re 58. What the hell? What just happened? 58 happened, Sonny Jim. You’re 58. It’s been 8 years from your last reflection and review and a full 18 since your 40th birthday for which you bought the 40th Anniversary Mustang.
Wow. 58. Hmm. What do you know about that? You roll over and go back to sleep because you have to work in the morning and you’ve decided you just don’t care all that much. The angst and anxiety you felt on your way here turns out to be a ghost on a wire in a bad carnival fun house.
You’re good, you’re fine. You’ve made some good choices, corrected some mistakes, recovered from some losses and you’re feeling like heading toward 60 is kind of cool. You’re wise enough to know you’re blessed, well rounded enough to value your hard work, comfortable in your own skin enough to thank the people who helped you and smart enough to know it can all end at any time. In fact, you now understand that was true all along and it will continue to be true up to the time you check out for good. You’re good. You’re fine. God is in charge.
That’s where I am. Most days.
