On Turning 48

Lea Thompson and I both turn 48 today. (Happy birthday, Lea - you probably won't get this, so this is more for my benefit than yours.)

Also, happy birthday to the Republic of South Africa, Clint Eastwood, Brooke Shields, and all the rest. May 31 was also the launch date of the Titanic and the day the last Model T rolled off the assembly line. (I generally don't regard the last two as omens.)

On the day I was born, John F. Kennedy was in Paris with Jackie to visit Charles de Gaulle. Here's a contemporary radio report, compiled by the site Crooks and Liars. Fascinating listening, and has echoes of Obama's presidency.



This isn't one of those "landmark" birthdays, like 40 or 50, so my feelings about it are fairly ambivalent. A mixture of the solemn reminder of aging, and a cavalier dismissal of the whole thing as contrived (you're only as old as you feel, as the cliche goes).

One thing I did do this year is to go against my introverted nature and be more proactive about celebrating the event. Rather than someone else planning something, I've set up a modest little celebration later today at a local steak house, and invited family to attend. (In the interest of full disclosure, the impetus was a gift card for said steak house which I want to use up before it expires. It doesn't have an expiry date, but I'm not taking any chances.)

Like New Year's, birthdays for me are now occasions for a bit of stock taking and possible course correction. Besides the continuing pursuit of fiction and self-employed writing in addition to my employed writing work, my list for this one includes a few new ones. Here's a sampling.
Some of you may be wondering, where does a relationship fit into all this? I'm single, and except for a few relationships, have been all my life. More on that in a future post, but for now, let's say I've had some realizations about that, and its importance for me.

Some folks get panicky about the advancing years, which seem to speed up the older one gets. For me, it's a mixed bag.

Sometimes I feel like a train passenger, looking out the right side train window, who can hear the other riders pointing at sights on the left side, but when I turn to look, they're already pointing at something else on the other side. I'm more PO'd than panicky - darn, missed that too.

But as some options close with the advancing years, there's also an odd sense of relief rather than regret. As I grow more comfortable and "set in my ways", I no longer have a desire to pursue some goals that seemed desirable at one time. Age gives focus. I'm now more aware of what truly makes me happy, and more content pursuing those things.

Lea Thompson looks like she's been pursuing other interests lately too - directing, appearing in musicals. I wish us both all the best.

Oh, and happy anniversary to Big Ben, who first spoke to the world 150 years ago today. Hit it, Benny boy!

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