It occurred to me the other day that my sister is nearing 50. Okay, so she's not there yet, but the initial thought of having to say "my sister is 50" hit me and it was just so weird. Say what you want, but we're not that old. We're not about to hit the halfway mark of our lives. In my mind, my sister and I are still in our twenties, still trying to figure out life and make sense of it all. But I'm turning 40 soon and while it doesn't *bother* me to be 40, there is a strange sensation present when I think about it.
One thing that's kind of cool about getting to be this age, is that you start to *really* see the patterns in your life. I don't mean patterns like... you keep making the same bad decisions over and over again. I mean... you now have had several bank accounts; you've probably had at least a few houses; you've moved at least a few times; maybe you've had more than one marriage or maybe you've even had more than one kid with more than one marriage. You've traveled, you've experienced things and for most of us, experiencing things for the second or even third time is now occurring.
When I renewed my passport recently, it got me to thinking about this repeatable part of my life. Not so different than a repeated home purchase or a car purchase, a driver's license, or hell, even a new marriage. It's the ultimate of reality of "nothing is new anymore".
It's not a bad thing; I welcome the comfort of repeatable processes. It's just a different reality than when I was in my twenties and everything was "new". We'll all get to this point eventually, and hopefully everyone will enjoy the comfort of it as much as I do.
Let me get to 45 first. :) 50 will be here soon enough.
ReplyDeleteI know ths post is about the repeatable things in our life, but for the first time the thought of being 50 actually had me thinking and brings mixed emotions. Like you, I don't feel any older than I did in my twenties. I really don't think I've ever thought about it, but I have thought about saying my parents are heading towards 70.
ReplyDeleteThey now say the 40s are the new 30s. Did they say that when our parents were in their 30s? As you head into the "new 30"s" enjoy it! I'm finding it is moving rather quickly.