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.