Excitement in life approaching middle age

[jframe]

Well, here I sit at 11:30 our time, eating a McDonald's no. 2 combo and listening to the Mecum Auto Auction on the tube while the Missus is hard at work down at the old folks' home. Does it get any more thrilling than this as I approach that dreaded middle age of 40 in six short months? Thank God for the Forum and you guys!

 

[Crazy K38]

believe me it beats working at McDonalds making #2's and watching adult swim cartoons, but I agree about the forum

 

[Wayne02]

Middle age can be exciting, but it can be costly sometimes. I elected to go this route and get my road racing license in the process. I've been broke, but mostly happy ever since.

Bondurant.com :: High Performance Driving School :: Home

 

[shortranger]

I remember 40. Vaguely.

David

 

[MrJT]

You still have 10 years.... 50 is the new 40

 

[sar4937]

Thank you, MrJT. Reading glasses will become your constant companion around fifty. You'll still look at young women, but they won't notice you. They'll start to offer you the senior discount at Cracker Barrel without asking.

 

[flop-shank]

Could be worse right now. Connie is thirty-nine. I'm thirty-eight, and our jerk nineteen year old moved out last week. Now I can finally fix up the house because I will once again be able to have tools that aren't in constant disarray, damaged, or missing. Nice house means happy wife. Happy wife= happy life.

 

[Bib]

Had I known I'd live this long I'd have taken better care of my Led Zeppelin albums.

 

[ingmansinc]

Could be worse right now. Connie is thirty-nine. I'm thirty-eight, and our jerk nineteen year old moved out last week. Now I can finally fix up the house because I will once again be able to have tools that aren't in constant disarray, damaged, or missing. Nice house means happy wife. Happy wife= happy life.

May I suggest a change of locks on the doors as a bare minimum. The best would be to move in the night and get a new identity if you want to live happily ever after. Kids have been know to come back as much as twenty years later.

 

[Iggy]

Well, here I sit at 11:30 our time, eating a McDonald's no. 2 combo and listening to the Mecum Auto Auction on the tube while the Missus is hard at work down at the old folks' home. Does it get any more thrilling than this as I approach that dreaded middle age of 40 in six short months? Thank God for the Forum and you guys!

You're young enough to benefit from finding something more healthy to eat than imported beef sammich.
Don't know what the auction is.
I agree with you on the the fellowship on the forum however.

 

[TNDave]

What are you doing up so late, Paw?

 

[Faulkner]

At 41 I bought me a motorcycle, a cruiser, one of the best things I ever did. I'd never even riden a street bike at that time, and the wife was dubious at best. Since then my wife has warmed up to riding with me and we have spent many a weekend and most of our vacations on the bike seeing different parts of America. After a couple of years I upgraded from a cruiser to a touring bike to increase the comfort level on longer trips.

I admit, I'm not a purist, and I don't really get into the whole hard butt biker culture. We trailer our bike to the area we want to ride and explore. Last month we trailered east to Virginia and rode around the Williamsburg area, and then rode across the state to Appomatox. Last year was the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, and another ride down the coast of the Florida panhandle where we discovered the quante little town of Apalatchacola. Two days on Natchez Trace in Mississipp/Alabama/Tennessee was a great ride, and in early October we have a trip planned for the Texas Hill Country starting with meeting some friends in San Antonio.

Closer to home, we have had a blast doing day rides on the weekends and could spend years exploring new places and roads (new to us, that is) in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks. Yeah, motorcycles are probably not for everyone. I was a unlikely convert but I'm glad I did. I have no intention of letting the mid life blues hold me back.

 

[JcMack]

At 40 I was dating a 22yr. old. She still lived with her folks. First time I picked her up I was afraid I'd get met at the door with a shotgun. As it turned out this girls mother was 42 and her father was 63. The girls sister was 23 and married to a 65 yr old farmer. I broke up with this 22 yr old sex maniac because I thought we didn't communicate well because of the age difference. At 62 I list that decision as #4 in the list of 78,000 things I've done wrong in my life. At 40 life seems to speed up. I believe thats because you get in a rut. You got to do different stuff to keep life exciting. Consider joining the peace corps, or joining the armed services of a foreign country. The Greenland Navy comes to mind.

 

[flop-shank]

May I suggest a change of locks on the doors as a bare minimum. The best would be to move in the night and get a new identity if you want to live happily ever after. Kids have been know to come back as much as twenty years later.

Locks aren't getting changed. He's a weasel, but I don't think he'll come in the house and take anything. Next time we talk he's being informed that he's to call before he comes over and he may not be here when I'm not home. If he does otherwise, we're going to have a "come to Jesus meeting".

.....and no, he'll never live under my roof again. He burnt his bridge right down to the water.

 

[gunlovingirl]

40? Hmmm. Let me think. Oh yeah. Now I remember. Unfortunately.
Life is what you make it. You're still young enough to make it exciting. Live every day like it's your last!

 

[JcMack]

Locks aren't getting changed. He's a weasel, but I don't think he'll come in the house and take anything. Next time we talk he's being informed that he's to call before he comes over and he may not be here when I'm not home. If he does otherwise, we're going to have a "come to Jesus meeting".

.....and no, he'll never live under my roof again. He burnt his bridge right down to the water.

Girls never seem to leave. Mom and daughters become pals and your house is full of kids again. My son and I are sort of "estranged". I raised him on my own an he was cool till he moved out at 22 and did a lot of stuff that really pissed me off. He's got his life and I've got mine back.

 

[BarbC]

I went to a friend's 50th birthday party yesterday. The party started around noon. At around 10:30 PM he said he didn't feel 50 years old - he felt the same as always, and that was after he had fallen off his barstool and his brother went to grab him and accidentally bashed a full-sized Roman helmet into his head (it went with his new full-size sword - I'm telling ya, it was a great party!)

I wonder how old he feels this morning! I'd call, but he'd probably rip the ringing phone out of the jack.

 

[buckeyeshooter1]

Well, I'll be 51 in October. I started a fitness program when I turned 36.
Statistically, 36 is midlife!! Average USA Life expecance of 72 divided by 2!!
I guess I don't have to add that the back half is harder than the first half with health problems and body parts that quit working at some point!

At 40, I started competitive weightlifting contests and teaching spinning and boxing aerobics classes. It was a good move for me as I have not really aged and if you saw me you would probably think I am still in my late 30's. My take is life is what you make it and I'm trying my best to get the most out of it as I can.
Now at 50, I try to experience some things I always wanted to do but never got around to doing, while I still have time and can do them.

 

[m657]

I was in the midst of a 'mid life crisis' a couple decades ago.....the wife gave me a stunt kite with 100' long tail.....I learned to fly it and took 3rd place in an international kite flying contest.

Was a LOT cheaper (and probably more satisfying) than a Corvette or trophy mistress.....

.....Life is more what you do WITH it, rather than suffering from what it does TO you....

 

[feralmerril]

You mean I only got less than 4 years left?

 

[Wayne02]

At 40 I was dating a 22yr. old.

Ok, game over. You win.

 

[Spotteddog]

The only thing I worried about at 40, was that the statutes of limitations for all the s**t I'd done when I was 35 hadn't run out yet?

 

[DCWilson]

I sort of remember my 40s, which for me began nearly a quarter century ago. What I remember is that I felt better, smarter, and more in control of everything in my 40s than in any decade before or since. I still have some residual benefit from having done things right in that decade rather than continuing with the slothful disengagement that characterized the earlier decades. Need to reactivate that program, I guess.

Had one kind of psychological hiccup in my mid-40s after falling out of a tree I had no business being up in and breaking a shin bone in one leg and shattering my heel in the other. What an idiot I was. Just because I felt like a teenager was no excuse for not realizing that I wouldn't bounce like one. 45 is a good caliber but a bad age; gotta be careful out there in the chronological wilderness.

I will be flashing my time-travel passport and crossing the border into 64 come Thursday. I feel older than I did a decade ago -- but still not as old as I look in recent photos from family gatherings.

David Wilson

 

[BlackAgnes]

Just keep doing what you always have as long as you feel like it.

I am lucky--I'm 62 and i feel like a kid, I don't go to the doctor, never worn glasses, no aches or pains, ride my motorcycle all summer, eat what i want--and I ain't as fat as most of my pals!

Don't stop to think about your age--you can become obsessed.

And...

I DO NOT get the "senior coffee" at MD's (or eat that crap, either), nor do I accept senior discounts.

It's a mind game, kid.

Gotta keep that tropical state of mind!

Mahalo!!!

Tim

 

[flop-shank]

He's got his life and I've got mine back

Brother, truer words were never spoken.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Enjoy the good life while you can! Unless you are lucky you may run into the cant eat this cant do that crap in about 15 to 20 years!

 

[jframe]

All great advice. I agree about the eating habits. They suck sometimes, especially since the wife works odd midnight shifts and I work days, so regular meals are a little tough sometimes. We walk with our neighbor sometimes; she's just 21 and sort of makes me realize that it is a little tougher to keep up. My dad, who is 79 and in GREAT shape, tells me I've got a long way to go. Hope he's right. I ain't really down real bad about turning 40 soon, because as my Dad says, it damn sure beats the alternative.