Here's a sure sign that you're getting more "seasoned" in life: It was my birthday the other day and I didn't even realized it until someone said "happy birthday" to me. I literally had forgotten it was my name day, which honestly I think is a good thing. I turned 58 by the way which in days of yore would have seemed ancient to me but now it's just like.. yeah whatever. I've never actually been a big numbers guy when it comes to age. In fact I can only think of one birthday that kind of freaked me out. Oddly it was 36, not usually a year that comes with some sort of trepidation like 40 or 50. When I turned 36 I realized for the first time I was closer to 40 than I was to 30 and for some reason that really struck a nerve with me. I've always been the youngest in our family: the youngest child, cousin, nephew, grandson etc. So when I realized the youngest was staring 40 down the barrel it sent me off kilter. I distinctly remember calling my Dad and telling him how I was feeling and his response was perfect: " You feel old at 36? Imagine having a child that's 36". That did sort of help me course correct.
Upon hearing it was my birthday a friend asked " feeling any wiser?". That indeed is the question isn't it? As you continue to watch life's odometer add more miles you'd certainly hope some level of advanced intellectual enlightenment comes along with gray (or loss of) hair and the certain inevitable aches and pains that just weren't there a few years back. My honest answer would be...I THINK so? I mean you definitely accumulate more experiences to harken back to as you get older that help you understand things better. Not much comes up that you haven't seen before and can then interpret better than your younger self would, but does that make you wiser? Being wise is defined as: "having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment". I feel good about the first two parts but sometimes that judgement thing can still be tricky for almost all of us. So yeah, I guess I feel a little wiser but like all of us I'm just a work in progress with an expiration date that you don't know about, humans don't come with a label that tells at what point we go bad.
One of my favorite quotes about this journey we're all on comes from the legendary American poet Robert Frost who said in 1954:: “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. In all the confusions of today, with all our troubles . . . with politicians and people slinging the word fear around, all of us become discouraged . . . tempted to say this is the end, the finish. But life — it goes on. It always has. It always will. Don’t forget that.
That was back in 19 freaking 54 and it sounds like it could have been taken off a website from yesterday. I think the only thing I could possibly add to that would be that most of the stuff we spend countless hours worrying about when we're younger doesn't really mean a damn thing. I'm not saying that's an easy conclusion to get to as it sure as hell took me a while, but it is an inevitability. There will be hardships, shit will go sideways and you will need to adjust. As my dear friend and resident football philosopher Herm Edwards says " any plan that can't be changed is a bad plan". As always Herm is right on the money.
So here's the only wisdom I would feel qualified to pass along: Have fun, do what you enjoy doing, be nimble, expect the unexpected and don't sweat the small stuff. Whatever it is that makes you happy, find a way to do it. Travel(when you can), meet people who grew up differently than you. Share your experiences with them and listen as they share theirs with yours. The longer you're around the more you realize we all have a lot more in common with each other than we are different, despite what people screaming at you on both sides of the aisle are saying. Tell the people that matter to you that they MATTER to you. And perhaps most importantly? Know who you are and know who you aren't. That's it folks, that's all I got. Now it's time to chase that little white ball down the fairway before the next football game starts. It really is about the little things, peace.
