I’m getting older.
Worse than getting older is knowing that you are getting older, and not being able to do anything about it. Maybe it’s the ever-increasing random pains, maybe it is the overwhelming desire to eat in a cafeteria, maybe it was my 41st birthday, but lately it has been painfully obvious to me that I am getting older.
The one saving grace is that, unlike many of my peers who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I don’t harbor unhealthy feelings of nostalgia. It’s not like I get mad when a new Star Wars movie comes out that completely changes everything about the storyline. That would be insane. Ok, bad example.
I also strangely find myself rooting for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. A lot of people despise Tom Brady, something about cheating, winning, cheating, marrying a supermodel, and cheating. But here’s the thing, if you are part of Generation X and you aren’t rooting for Brady, I must assume you just have no sense of your own mortality. That guy is 6 months younger than me and he is still on the field throwing slightly deflated footballs around like he’s half my, I mean his, age. Everybody from my generation should be rooting for Brady because he is the last one of us standing. Tom Brady was in college when I was in college; I want him to play another 10 years if he can. Simply because it makes me feel a little less old.
Nostalgia aside, mentally I think I am as sharp as ever. Occasionally I repeat things, but that is perfectly normal. Also, I have noticed that I am repeating things sometimes, but I hear that is totally normal.
By far this biggest adjustment to hitting this point in life, at least for me, has been physical. Not long ago one of the kids had a cold. Being the all-star dad I am, I decided that I would sneak into the child’s room to set up the humidifier, hoping that it would help with some of the coughing. Everything went well; the child was still fast asleep, until I had to make my escape. I had been squatting in the floor for a couple of minutes putting everything together, and when I tried to get up the popping sounds from my knees were so loud it sounded like I set off a whole package of fireworks. The child woke up, and I think so did the neighbors.
My body may be slowing down at 41, but my mind is still as quick as ever. Did I mention how bad that most recent Star Wars movie was?
