On turning 44

04/14/13 23:56:00    

By Michael Mealling

As of about 4:00 a.m. this morning, April 14, I have been around the sun 44 times. Given today's life expectancy I have officially reached middle-age. Several years ago I ran across The Season's of a Man's Life and it helped me understand my 30s and 40s.

According to the book I'm in the “mid-life transition” season where I become increasingly aware of how short life really is. Having had a heart attack in 2002 I've already had to face that fact. That's the point where I decided to stop screwing around and actually accomplish something. That was eleven years ago. Have I accomplished as much as I would have liked? No. But I've made definite progress. I'm also working to take a bit more control over myself in terms of sharpening skills and changing bad habits.

One annoying habit many of us develop at this age is to attempt to pass on the lessons we've learned to those directly behind us. That's when you start sounding more and more like an old-fart than a contemporary. I'm going to try and tone that one down a bit…

The one odd thing about 44 is that you start thinking about being 50 a bit more. That shit is scary. Prior to this you could still consider yourself close enough to your 30s that it was just a rounding error. But 44 is undeniably in your 40s.

I did get some good bar-b-que and a chocolate cake out of it, though!