Today in 1965 I was born. That makes me officially the big four oh. I can no longer lay claim to being 'thirty-something' or 'in my late thirties'. And I won't say that I am in my 'low forties'. Nope. Forty. You wouldn't know this from reading, but when I finished typing the word 'Forty' I actually stared at it for several seconds. Like it has to sink in. It didn't hit me or sink in at my awesome surprise party. I was too drunk to care then anyway. It's sinking in now though and there's this feeling like I am waiting for something to happen. Some change, some revelation, some increase of points in my wisdom characterisitc. I don't have any deep insights or reflections on my life to share, at least not at the moment. Maybe later or over the next few days. Then again... maybe not at all. If anything I feel meloncholy. I was meloncholy last night as Jenne and I lay in bed. She smiled, put her arm around me, laid her head on my chest and jokingly asked if I was having a crisis, if I was going to have an affair with a twenty-something or if I would come home sometime in the next few days with a brand new sports car like a Mini S or Honda S2000.
"No, no crisis and no affair! About the sports car though...hmmm... I don't think so," was my reply. "It's just sinking in that I am forty. You know when I was a high school senior I honestly didn't think I'd still be around. I didn't think that I would live to see thirty-five and the year two-thousand, but here I am and I am forty.
There was some discussion as to why I felt that way and then - in the middle of that discussion - I asked, "...by the way, why is forty spelled f o r t y and not f o u r t y? Just curious."
"Go to sleep honey and happy birthday."
Happy birthday Will!
Posted by: Somewhat on January 4, 2005 08:32 AMAging is not easy for those of us who have felt young for so long...I'm having some trouble with it myself. I don't want to get old....I don't feel old mentally and I don't want to. Stay young as long as you can...it's only a number after all! Happy B-day!
Posted by: Becky on January 4, 2005 09:31 AMHAPPY BIRTHDAY Will;
Now get out and take some pics to record the day.
..............wait til you get to 50............60........64.........I still can't believe i made it this long......backside of forty and the shortside of life.
cya...........enjoy the day.
Posted by: tom on January 4, 2005 09:33 AMHappy Birthday, Will. One only need fear mortality if one has squandered every living day. It's those that have nothing but empty lives who regret the passing of their days, knowing that they have been wasted.
Happy Birthday! "We are always the same age inside" I remember my grandmother, who was always very very young at heart being surprised by her appearance in some photos when she was about 78 years old. The thing about her attitude was that it always made the rest of the family forget her age. When my brother and I were teenagers, we treated her as an honorary teenager, and when I was a young adult I treated her as a "girlfriend" : after all, she went to hipper clubs than I did to dance, and used to be swarmed by men of all ages asking her to dance at the piano bar of Phillips restaurant at the harbor. One time, on a family outing, we all piled out of the car, and Grandmother was lagging behind, "Come on Short Stuff!" my mom called back to her...we all tended to think we had to slow down for her because she was the shortest member of the family, not because she was almost 80 years old and had a knee replacement!! And some other family looked at us in horror, like "did you hear how they talked to that poor old woman?!"
It's not "you're only as old as you feel" ( and thank God, or I'd be dead!!) it's more like "you're only as old as you act." You're one of those people, like Grandmother, who's youth inside will always shine through and overcome the perceptions of your "age outside"....just don't be surprised when your neices and nephews haul you out to whatever the next big thing is to celebrate your 60th all night long!!
Happy Birthday Will !
If it makes you feel any better, I'll be 45 on Friday. Enjoy your special day.
Posted by: Scott B. on January 4, 2005 10:32 AMHappy Birthday, Will! Ages are only numbers. In truth, you're only one day older than yesterday!
Posted by: Donna on January 4, 2005 12:16 PMOld fart! Make room for us youngsters!!!
38's young right?...whine..
Posted by: mm on January 4, 2005 12:44 PMYou're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're older still
Time
Is marching on
And time
Is still marching on
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Posted by: TMBG on January 4, 2005 12:46 PMHappy Birthday Will.
40 really isn't that old as long as you keep the 8 year old in your going strong. Stay young inside and the years really don't matter.
Keep laughing and looking around.
Posted by: godamonginsects.com on January 4, 2005 01:03 PMHappy Birthday to you! I hope you get lots of hot birthday sex! tee hee By the way, I'm a twenty-something. tee hee.
Posted by: SuzieQ on January 4, 2005 01:16 PMFourty is nothing. You're like a fine wine, my brother - better and better with age!
Or am I just making excooses because I'm only a few months away myself?!? ;)
Happy Birthday again!
-s
I'm going to say it, I can't control it. I have to say the F word. Forty! Fourty! 40!
It's a number, not a state of mind. I will celebrate my 46th year of decorating the planet Earth on the 24th of this month. I must be getting younger again (mentally) as I am suddenly becoming more tolerant and liberal.
Either that or I am forgetting to be intolerant and conservative in which case I guess I have some cerebral degeneration going on....
Happy birthday Will. I am honored to have made your acquaintance.
Posted by: juli on January 4, 2005 04:21 PMHey Happy Birthday and welcome home. I just remembered your Bday and of course you beat me to it! I hope it's been a good one.
Happy New Year to you and Jenne also.
Been there, and done that, and, dammit, nobody gave me a t-shirt. 'Splains a lot, doesn't it?
Anyway, refuse to grow old, Will, and never forget how to play.
Posted by: Geren on January 4, 2005 06:33 PMThanks for all the well wishes and thoughts. Most of you have seen my basement - AKA the shrine to Star Wars, Star Trek and SciFi toys, also my collection of Simpsons figures - so you should have no doubt that I will always remain a perpetual twelve-year-old boy trapped in the body of an ever aging and falling apart adult.
Posted by: Will Burnham on January 4, 2005 08:56 PMHappy happy, Will! May you have forty more and maybe another forty beyond that....
Happy Birthday! Sorry we missed your party!
Put up more pic of Poe and San!