Am I Finished With 40 Yet?

February 12, 2015
Day 288

For the past nine and a half months, I've posted these blog entries every single day, and every single day, my readers online have seen the phrase "Finishing Forty".  It makes people mistakenly think I'm already a 40-year-old, and will soon be turning 41...but no, I'm still just a kid, a child really.  I'm only 39 years old, and have many more (2.5) months left in my 30s.

Finishing Forty is all about completing my 40th year of life on Earth as I turn from 39 to 40.  What would your friends say to you if you said, "My car is 40 years old," or "My computer is 40 years old," or even "My dog is 40 years old"?  They'd likely give you a long stare of concern.

So when you turn 40 years old, you're telling the world you're walking around in a 40-year-old model.  You're admitting that for the past four decades, you've been piling up the mileage on this baby right here, and you're grateful to have gotten this far without too many dents or scratches.  You present yourself to the world with a nice haircut and a new wardrobe perhaps, knowing that just underneath your clothes or skin, things aren't so new anymore.  You're halfway done with the four score you hope to achieve, and middle age is not just upon you, but all around you too: the reluctant glance in the rear-view mirror will tell you how much of this middle-agedness you've already experienced.  And then, very quietly, you'll begin to cry.

You'll bemoan the past now lost to you, all the possibilities of youth you've squandered or just never found or achieved, and you'll mourn that which has been.  As you make the last steps up to your 40th birthday, you'll sigh, wipe away the tears, and then smile, realizing that as you reach the top of the pinnacle, this life you've proudly built is all around you, and there are many more mountains and valleys still waiting to be conquered!