44% Done. And Feelin' Groovy

It is my birthday.  The 44th to be exact, my 45th January 11th on this earth.  Turning 44 on 1-11-11 does conjure a desire to buy a lottery ticket, but I'll pass.

Many comment on the mid forties in a negative way. People fear aging, and probably for good reason.  As we pass through the years injuries heal more slowly and it takes extra effort to maintain mental acuity, sensory ability, along with general strength and speed.  The physical manifestations are a slippery slope that you must battle with an ice pick and a good pair of cleats. People will say that after forty you are over the hill.  I'd like to think that I'm still on the way up the hill.  Perhaps I am the hill!

Back when I was twenty-two, half my lifetime ago, I remember drinking a case of beer with by friend X24 and sitting in lawn chairs in the snow outside of my crappy DeKalb, Illinois student ghetto apartment.  It was an unusually warm day and the frat-row puke had just started to thaw, emitting a dainty bouquet picked up between sips.

"Do you realize this is the smartest we'll ever be", he said staring into the sky.

I didn't reply, at least out loud.  I was pretty sure that he was right.  We'd seen plenty of guys around town in their 30's, 40's and older and they didn't seem to impress us on a regular basis.  Heck, we were surrounded by college-age guys and we thought that most of them were generally useless. It was the beginning of the end.

My nieces Anglea and Alex (with winter coat on), my dog Stinkie

and nephew Kyle watch me crack open my secret reserve stash of

Four Loko (lemon flavor) on my birthday.  

However, with the benefit of retrospect I guess I would not agree with our assessment at the time.  It is not time that is evil, it is the decisions you make through time that rob you of potential, options and energy.

The decisions to stay in school forever, pursue an academic career, take on new challenges, marry a wonderful female, have awesome friends, solid family and keep physically active I think have all provided positive benefits.

The other big difference is that at 22 I was a student and couldn't find two nickels to rub together, a problem that followed me through 13 years of post-secondary education and four years of postdoctoral work.  Not a problem now.

Back then I didn't buy luxuries like pasta. We'd eat what we could catch, shoot or what fell off of a truck. Now I buy good cheese and weirdo vegetables. How far we've come.

Some things I would not have predicted at twenty-two years old about the forty-four me:

1.  I'd be skilled at getting things done.
2.  I'd smell not bad much.
3.  I'd have some of the same clothes
4.   I'd prefer Old Milwaukee to single-malt scotch
5.  I'd prefer soft cottony fabrics to synthetics.
6.  I'd rarely get to fish, but ride a kayak a lot
7.  I'd think about playing guitar and would do it 5 times a year, but only at full blast
8.  I'd be a professor at a major university
9.  People would seek my advice about super important stuff
10.  That the "Pull My Finger" gag would still work-- hysterically
11. That I'd dupe a really hot and clever woman into tolerating me for 16 years
12. I'd prefer to ride my bike over driving
13. That I'd get to work 80 hours a week in an awesome job
14. I'd still have a clown suit and wear it at least once a year.
15. I'd prefer a work truck to something snazzy.
16. I'd still like music that makes parents wince and ears bleed
17. I'd have all of my teeth, hair and fingers.
18. I'd wear pants two inches bigger in the waist
19. I'd live in Florida
20. I'd still go see a good band when possible- and be the oldest guy there by 15 years.
21. I'd be a reasonably agile karate dude and shitty distance runner that runs distance all the time.
22. I'd look forward to shoveling snow for my dad.

So 44 is good, but 45 will be better and 85 will be better yet. 99 will kick ass.

I'm planning on calling it quits at 100.  I'm retiring on my 100th birthday and ceasing all physical activity.  I'm going to eat and drink like a pig and drop dead that afternoon, maybe surrounded by trophy wives after my conversion to a polygamist religion at 99.75.  While some think this is a morbid plan, I think it is a sweet one.  With a 100 year perspective, every year I know what percent I have left and can budget and plan wisely.

So today I pass 44% and no mid-life crisis in sight.  Maybe next year, but probably at noon on June 15th after I turn 50 for a few minutes.

Happy B-Day to me.