Why 50 is nifty

There's a saying that folks who grow old like say to the younger generation that justifies the aging process. Well, there are a lot of sayings, but the one that often sticks is one that my maternal grandfather used to say. 

"You don't have the miles."

At the end of September, I will turn 50. 5-0. When I was a young'n, 50 seemed sooo old. I remember when my grandparents and parents turned 50 and thinking, that's sooo old. Now, I am about to embark on that milestone. Now, I get to be the old man who reflects and thinks that I may not have another 50 years on this earth. Once when I planned for a future, is now me thinking about how much time I might have. Yep, I am now that guy. Now it's about staying healthy, avoiding the grim reaper, and seeing my youngest daughter grow up. It's true what they say: the older you get, the faster the clock seems to tick. Which means stopping and reflecting more and appreciating what you have accomplished. 

Which then takes me back to that saying my grandfather liked to drop on us youths back when we didn't think about how much time we had left. When I turned 22, my life changed when I became a parent. Having a small human to take care of was the first in many obstacles that I have had to figure out. Not always successfully. My kids always dictated my choices in life. My dreams and ambitions had to be put to rest as I figured out ways for them to be taken care of. I landed my first job at 24 and followed a path that took me from fulfilling a dream of becoming a sports writer, to a career in marketing. Along the way, I have had countless humans come and go through my world. Some were positive, many were negative. I learned, I suffered, I celebrated, and I endured. You gain a huge understanding of who you are by how people treat you and how you react to them. I always tried to take the high road, but each encounter became a lesson. Life is also about experiences and taking a leap into the abyss. My father used to bemoan the "wouldas, couldas, shouldas" but for me, sometimes not throwing caution to the wind and just scampering into the darkness has led to some pretty incredible journeys. Those experiences and what I gleaned from them is what my grandfather meant when he said miles. Me at 25 was still trying to understand myself and was naive to a shitty world compared to the jaded and wiser 50-year-old me. Don't get me wrong, I still take wrong turns, but the process is different. My approach is different. I tend to think the worst of people instead of blindly trusting. I believe people are inheritly awful because most would watch you burn if it meant prosperity for themselves. Everyone? No. Not everyone. There are still a lot of good people in this world, and many are a part my life now. But those numbers are fewer, or perhaps I just learned to keep my distance better. 

But this is not a blog post about a terrible world or bad people. This is a blog post about a transition into another decade. After a horrible 30s, where everything I did resulted in me plowing into walls head on, my 40s were an amazing decade. I welcomed my last child, who is my best bud and an gift from the heavens. I became a homeowner. I celebrated 10 years of marriage to Meggan. I became a runner, and even finished three marathons. I became a grandfather three times. But most important, I persevered. I grew considerably as a human in my 40s. I gained the most valuable miles in my lifetime during that decade.

Now the 50s will be another stage and another trek, which will also include some slowing down. There is no need to continue to figure out those miles. Instead, it will figure out how to slow down enough to actually enjoy those miles.