50 Things That 50 Is
Shout out to Kermit Ruffins for his song “What is New Orleans” and to Ethan Hawke who shares a birth date with me.
50 is old, but not as old as it used to be.
50 is holding your wife’s hand and knowing what a slight tug means.
50 is nine years longer than one of my grandfathers lived and two years before the other died.
50 is half way to a long life lived or one year before the end of a short life.
50 is losing a friend to cancer.
50 is a wishful age to retire.
50 is seeing other 50 year-olds bouncing their toddler on their lap.
50 is the midst of a mid-life crisis.
50 is figuring out how to pay for college.
50 is a time for reflection.
50 is being supportive of your kids’ sexual identities.
50 is getting your weight under control.
50 is hemorrhoids and colonoscopies.
50 is not being able to eat certain things.
50 is loving the one you’re with.
50 is seeing divorcees dating women half their age.
50 is looking at a woman in her sixties and finding something attractive about her.
50 is trying to understand the younger generation.
50 is turning right instead of left.
50 is making the best of the life you chose.
50 is acting your age.
50 is still acting like a kid.
50 is being true to yourself.
50 is waking up with a new body ache.
50 is trying to turn back the clock.
50 is figuring out the end game.
50 is greying hair and a receding hairline.
50 is contemplating shaving your head instead of your beard.
50 is searching for a new career.
50 is accepting your fate.
50 is keeping up with the Joneses.
50 is loving yourself.
50 is hearing loss.
50 is Zoloft and alcohol.
50 is envy.
50 is settling down.
50 is time to start over.
50 is loving your spouse.
50 is a time for forgiveness.
50 is reaching out to someone you’ve lost.
50 is andropause.
50 is a quinquagenarian.
50 is prescription reading glasses.
50 is cardiovascular disease.
50 is Allopurinol and Pravastatin.
50 is waking up to a new line or wrinkle on your face.
50 is waking up stiff as a board.
50 is losing your memory.
50 is not disappointing your kids.
50 is just a number.
