I was born in the“Summer of Love” and “Light My Fire” by The Doors was the Number 1 song on the radio the week I was born. I came of age in the 80s, graduating high school in 85 and college in 89.
When I graduated high school, I remember thinking that people who went to their 25th high school reunions were “old.” I did that a couple years ago. Funny thing is, I still don’t feel old. Not going to lie, my knee bothers me sometimes and there are times the music is too loud. On the whole, though, I still feel like I have a lot of living left to do.
I used to laugh at people my age who referred “mid-40s” as middle age. Statistically, men in the United States live to the ripe-old age of 78.2 years. Statistical middle age is 39.1.
I’ve been fortunate to say that I have had fun in every stage of my life and in every decade. None of it was perfect and less of it was easy, but it has been mine and there were plenty of laughs along the way. That’s all that matters…to me anyway.
So, Happy Birthday to me. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go scuba diving with my dad in Summersville Lake, WV. It’s where we both learned to dive—I learned about eight years before he did.
Dad will be 74 in about two weeks. Do you think I should tell him to slow down? I think he may be past middle age…