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Tick-tock, tick-tock…

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As I’m writing this, I am three days away from my 49th birthday. There’s nothing really remarkable about turning 49, except that it starts the countdown toward the big one, the half-century mark, the ol’ five-oh.

Yes, a year and three days from now, I’ll turn 50 years old… unless Jesus comes back, I get struck by lightning or all of those Wendy’s doubles with cheese catch up to me unexpectedly, I’ll hit 50 years old on August 27th, 2023.

Fifty years is a long time. You sort of lose track of things until you hit a big milestone like that. I’ll be 49 on Saturday and it feels like I’ve been in my 40s for 20 years if that makes sense, sort of like Ronald Reagan was “always” president when I was a kid or how your parents are always “around 45” in you head. It’s crazy. By the time my Mom was 49, she had five grandchildren. I don’t even have one!

When I was 20, I felt 15. When I was 30, I felt 22. When I was 40, I felt 35. Now that I’m 48, I feel every bit of 48. I don’t know when it was that I first started feeling my age. Maybe it was around 45. That was the last year I felt like I was in good enough shape to still play in the adult softball league. That was when I could still run for a mile without those barking pains in my shins. That was when I could eat a fast food combo and not feel like I had just swallowed a brick.

I realize that plenty of you reading this out there would absolutely love to be 49 again. And I also realize that 49 is far from “old” in the sense that I could have 25 or 30 or

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more “good” years left.

Hey, thanks to the miracles of modern science, by the time I’m 75, the life expectancy could be pushing 100. Maybe I’ll be able to just download my consciousness to a floppy disk and upload it to a fancy robot body or something.

But in the meantime, I’ve got a lot to look forward. I already mentioned grandchildren.

of their situations where they want them to be. I’ve still got one kid left at home for a couple more years. It will be interesting to see what she ends up deciding to do with her life post-high school.

And then, of course, there’s retirement. While I’m in no hurry to get there, it’ll still be nice to just finally have no responsibilities and obligations and deadlines.

Who knows what the next couple of decades might bring? If I divide my life into two 25-year halves, it’s crazy to think how much has changed. From 1973 to1998, I went from a baby to someone with babies of my own. From 1998 to 2022, I have watched those babies grow up. I’ve been married for almost 30 years. Now two of my kids are married.

Yes, it’s been quite a ride, and I’ve (more or less) had a great time over the last 49 years.

I’m excited to see where the next 49 take me!

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