February 2009, Gone For Ever

My Mom has, for as long as I can remember, pointed out that the older you get the faster time goes. I used to be sceptical of that. Being young, I didn't believe her. I still don't really. I think that time being relative and all is just dependant on your state of mind (plus, she was saying that when she was like 35 or so and not that old at all). Somewhere around my mid 30's I kind of stopped tracking my age. I know how old I am but I don't consciously follow that data and I try my best to not celebrate my birthday. Of course this task is made more difficult if not impossible by the fact that my wife loves birthdays.

I don't ignore birthdays as a matter of vanity, I don't care how old I am. It's more an active pursuit of the adage "Your as old as you feel". I figure if I act like an irresponsible 20 year old and ignore the consequences of growing old I won't grow old. Of course this sometimes makes me look like an ass.

My fear is of growing old and the older I get the more acutely I become aware of the fact that time is getting short for any goals I ever had. The ship has sailed on being the next Eddie Van Halen. I joked when I turned 35 that I was old enough to be president, it's not really that funny anymore. It will really stop being funny when in a few years I'm old enough to be the president's father. Not that I ever wanted to be president, but I would like to have more money saved toward retirement. I would like to be able to retire before age 62 but with the ole 401K in a spiral I'll be glad to be able to retire at all.

Before you start thinking that this post is turning melancholy I should point out that I consider myself the luckiest bastard in the world. I've got great motorcycles, a spectacular dog and a loving, fun wife that's also my best friend. For some reason I just started this line of thought when I innocently made the title of this entry "February 2009, Gone For Ever". It just brought home the passage of time more than I normally dare think about it. We are having Lisa's brother Chris and his fiance, Alicia, over for dinner tonight and I'm making a new slow cooker dish so I'm actually really happy today.

So in conclusion, invest in a 401K (the market will turn around some day), learn to play guitar and appreciate everyday because as corny as that sounds, we only get so many of them.