Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! If being 64, 65, and 66 puts you in your mid-60s, then today I am entering my late 60s. Yikes! But that’s okay, because I am more happy and content than I have been in a while. Things are going well.
67 is too old for a mid-life crisis. I know that. I accept that. For it to be a mid-life crisis I would have to live to 134! Not likely! 67 is not too old for some reflection. You are never too old nor too young for some self-reflection. Please bear with me while I show some gratitude and share some regrets. Cut me some slack! I’m 67!
I am grateful for my relatively good health. I survived two cancers but still am very active. I am thankful that I never smoked nor done drugs. I have eaten too many Whoppers and Big Macs. Oh well. I celebrated turning 50 by running a marathon. I can’t do that anymore, but Emma and I are celebrating my birthday by running a 5k on Memorial Day. Wish us luck!
I am grateful for friends and family. My family is awesome. With three brothers and a sister and tons of nieces and nephews, I can look back on wonderful times and solid support and times I laughed so hard that milk came out my nose! I’ve been married more than once and I even have lots of good memories there. Those marriages gave me three wonderful children. I am immensely proud of my kids. A few of my friends I have known most of my life. I love them. Some of my friends I have made along the way. I love them too. Being an introvert, I prefer my own company most of the time. But my friends have always been there when I needed them. I hope they can say the same about me.
I am grateful to have been taught the love of the outdoors. I would much rather be in the middle of the woods, or on the shore of a lake, than anywhere else.
I am grateful for the addition of Buddhism to my life. It has brought me peace and, I think, made me a little kinder. I learned the value of impermanence and the wisdom of knowing that everything has a life span. Enjoy each moment before it is gone! It made me less afraid of death because I believe I will have more lives and more adventures. At least I hope so.
I am grateful for having such a varied career path. I have had many interesting jobs. One job even enabled me to cross the equator! How cool is that!?
I am grateful for having grown up as a lower middle class boy in a wonderful little town in a wonderful time in history, the 1960s. To have had the opportunity to live in the same times as The Beatles is awesome. And to quote them…it’s getting better all the time.
To quote Frank Sinatra…regrets, I have a few, but then again too few to mention. But let me mention them. I wish I had gotten more time with my daughter, Amy. Seventeen years was not enough. I wish I had been a saver and not a spender! Too late now! I wish I had spent more time with my dad in his last years of life. I wish some of my relationships hadn’t ended the way they did and I take responsibility for some of that. I wish some relationships might have had a chance to grow. But for various reasons, they didn’t. On a lighter note, I regret that I ever tried turnips. Worst food ever!
This has been my longest blogpost. I hope it wasn’t too long. It is hard to stuff 67 years into the usual length of my posts. Let me end by saying that life is a highway, I wanna ride it, all night long. Haha. I digress. At 67, I look forward to at least another decade or two. Thanks for letting me share my life with you. My wish for you is that you look back, when you turn 67, and say that you are happy and content and that you had a life well lived.
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A Semi-retired Kind of Life 