Memento Mori

Memento Mori

“Do not wait for life.  Do not long for it.  Be aware, always and at every moment, that the miracle is in the here and now.”
– Marcel Proust

On the north side of 50 your perspective changes.  I’m more inclined to take the side trip to see something new than I was at 30 (when I was rushing from one place to the next just to get there).  When I had kids I focused on being a decent dad.  Supposedly 90% of the time you will ever spend with your children is used up by the time they graduate high school, and damn it I made sure to be there whenever I could be.

Who knows what the day brings, let alone the next decade, but I’m working to make my 50’s a memorable and interesting time.  I figure if medical advancements, a healthy lifestyle and good luck get me to 100, then I’ve got 48 more trips around the sun.  Best to make the most of those.

Today will be a great day.  Picking up Emily and driving her back home for the summer.  If luck and timing work in our favor perhaps a side trip along the way before the horrors of the Mass Turnpike on a Friday afternoon inflict it’s emotional toll on us.  There’s something cruel about traffic getting worse as you get closer to home from a long trip.  Sort of like the cruelty of the body and mind breaking down as you reach your “golden years”.  But as a well-seasoned 52 year old, I’ve learned to just take the road as it comes, but with an eye towards adventure.