What is it to reach the age of forty? I like to think there are three comings of age in a man's life. When you reach eighteen, regardless of your maturity, you are officially an adult. You can legally buy tobacco if you wish to smoke, you are not old enough to drink yet in many places, but you're old enough to strap on some combat boots and go to war if your country calls you or you volunteer. Some leave high school behind and move onto college. Others simply get a job and try to make a living on their own in their own way. At 18 you might be old enough to know what lovers do, but not know what love really is. Sure you're grown, you're a man. But are you truly grown up? Or yet truly a man? For some perhaps, for others not so much. You might be an adult, but you are still a young adult. It's an odd age to reach I suppose if you look at it like that.
When you reach thirty, the next coming of age, you get a kick out of it if someone older calls you a young man. You're thirty! You might not be old, but you certainly aren't young anymore. However you ARE young enough to understand the younger generation. You can relate on some things with those older, and yet you still relate to the younger crowd as well. For example, you still listen to the music you grew up on as a teen and in your early to mid twenties. But you like a lot of the stuff those in their teens and twenties are now listening too. You can still be hip, you can still be cool. You're a veteran of all the stuff the younger crowd is getting into and taking the newer things in as well. In life itself, living life, you still have much to learn. However there are those who are younger who can now learn from you as well.
Thirty Five is not a coming of age. At this age you are in limbo and waiting for the next coming of age. At this point, the next five years are just... weird. You might still feel young, but you know your getting older. You can see now how quickly life goes by. You might find yourself having a beer with an old friend, talking about all the "remember when?"s that seem like they just happened yesterday... and then you realize... "Dude! That happened when we were in highschool!" At this age you remember thinking about how long it seemed to take to get from one age to another when you were younger, but now the years seem like they're just flying by. I think you begin to realize just how short this life really is. So perhaps thirty five is a coming of age after all. That said I'll change my earlier statement about three comings of age. It seems there are four. Blink your eyes and the next five years go by just... like... that...
And here I am. Tomorrow, March 2nd, I'll be forty years old. I know what it's like for sure now how fast the years go by. It seems like yesterday I was twenty years old. Now, all of a sudden I'm halfway to eighty. Sure that could be a long time. But I know those years just fly by now. It might seem like a long way off, but I know better. Time has a funny way of creeping up on you. As I'm just reaching this "coming of age" I have no idea what this one will bring me. What I might learn, what I might do... nothing. In a way I'm scared to death, but in another way I'm proud and look forward to it. The grey in my beard? I feel like I earned it. The wrinkles on the corners of my eyes... I feel like I earned them. But what does this age bring me? What can I expect? Is this the age where I begin to acquire more wisdom? A deeper understanding of the world? I hope so. I feel in my bones and into my soul, that the next ten to twenty years can be something very special. I look forward to it, but I want to run away from it at the same time. Deep down I know I'll march right into it however. I'll embrace it.
I started smoking a pipe just a little over a year ago. I guess it was perfect timing. It seems in this new coming of age it will be a good friend to me as I contemplate life and look fondly on the past, but also in hope toward the future.
I'll live my life and smoke my pipe. Here's to you, who haven't reached this age yet. And here's to you, who have left this age long behind. Maybe there are a few more of these ages.
May all of our "comings of age" be blessed.
When you reach thirty, the next coming of age, you get a kick out of it if someone older calls you a young man. You're thirty! You might not be old, but you certainly aren't young anymore. However you ARE young enough to understand the younger generation. You can relate on some things with those older, and yet you still relate to the younger crowd as well. For example, you still listen to the music you grew up on as a teen and in your early to mid twenties. But you like a lot of the stuff those in their teens and twenties are now listening too. You can still be hip, you can still be cool. You're a veteran of all the stuff the younger crowd is getting into and taking the newer things in as well. In life itself, living life, you still have much to learn. However there are those who are younger who can now learn from you as well.
Thirty Five is not a coming of age. At this age you are in limbo and waiting for the next coming of age. At this point, the next five years are just... weird. You might still feel young, but you know your getting older. You can see now how quickly life goes by. You might find yourself having a beer with an old friend, talking about all the "remember when?"s that seem like they just happened yesterday... and then you realize... "Dude! That happened when we were in highschool!" At this age you remember thinking about how long it seemed to take to get from one age to another when you were younger, but now the years seem like they're just flying by. I think you begin to realize just how short this life really is. So perhaps thirty five is a coming of age after all. That said I'll change my earlier statement about three comings of age. It seems there are four. Blink your eyes and the next five years go by just... like... that...
And here I am. Tomorrow, March 2nd, I'll be forty years old. I know what it's like for sure now how fast the years go by. It seems like yesterday I was twenty years old. Now, all of a sudden I'm halfway to eighty. Sure that could be a long time. But I know those years just fly by now. It might seem like a long way off, but I know better. Time has a funny way of creeping up on you. As I'm just reaching this "coming of age" I have no idea what this one will bring me. What I might learn, what I might do... nothing. In a way I'm scared to death, but in another way I'm proud and look forward to it. The grey in my beard? I feel like I earned it. The wrinkles on the corners of my eyes... I feel like I earned them. But what does this age bring me? What can I expect? Is this the age where I begin to acquire more wisdom? A deeper understanding of the world? I hope so. I feel in my bones and into my soul, that the next ten to twenty years can be something very special. I look forward to it, but I want to run away from it at the same time. Deep down I know I'll march right into it however. I'll embrace it.
I started smoking a pipe just a little over a year ago. I guess it was perfect timing. It seems in this new coming of age it will be a good friend to me as I contemplate life and look fondly on the past, but also in hope toward the future.
I'll live my life and smoke my pipe. Here's to you, who haven't reached this age yet. And here's to you, who have left this age long behind. Maybe there are a few more of these ages.
May all of our "comings of age" be blessed.
