{"id":754,"date":"2007-12-12T11:41:47","date_gmt":"2007-12-12T11:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/12\/happy_belated_b.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:45:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:45:31","slug":"happy_belated_b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/12\/happy_belated_b.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had great intentions of marking the occasion when it happened, but, well I didn’t. Pinakidion’s birthday post<\/a> reminded me.
\nA couple of weeks ago, I had a birthday. Nov. 27th<\/a> to be exact. Same day as Jimi Hendrix<\/a>, only 25 years later. 27 years after Bruce Lee<\/a> and 12 years after Bill Nye the science guy<\/a>. 872 years after Pope Urban II launched the first crusade<\/a>. Yippie.
\nFor those of you good at math (and history), you may have figured out that this was a big year for me. Yep, the big 4-0. I’m officially over the hill at this point.
\nThe number itself wasn’t a big deal. I don’t suddenly feel old now that there’s a 4 in front of my age. No, it was the circumstances of life that did it. \ud83d\ude00
\nThe extra 25-30 pounds that have gathered around my mid section in recent years, for one.
\nSeriously one of the real things that hit me as I approached 40 was the realization that I had nothing to look forward to. What I mean is, as you grow up, you have all these things you look forward to doing. For me I looked forward to graduating from college, getting married, having kids, getting my career going, getting a new car, getting a classic car, buying a house, etc. I realized that I’ve done<\/em> all that stuff. In some sense, I find myself standing here, right where I wanted to be, saying “Now what?”
\nOf course there are things to look forward to, I guess I just need to change gears. Getting the kids through school, baptising them, seeing them through college, seeing them married and of course grandkids (That last one was a bit scary to type!). OK, I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I guess it’s time to shift my perspective. A new decade, a new perspective.
\n40 down, another 40 or so (I hope) to go. It’s a little sobering to think that I’m at or near the point where the years I have left are fewer than the years that have past. Of course it’s not real healthy to think of things that way, but it is reality.
\nCertainly, these realizations have played into my rather melancholy, introspective mood of late. I didn’t intend this to be a downer post, I know there’s plenty of good things ahead. Life does not end at 40, but it seems a fair bit of it comes to a head.
\nIt does make one pause and think a bit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had great intentions of marking the occasion when it happened, but, well I didn’t. Pinakidion’s birthday post reminded me. A couple of weeks ago, I had a birthday. Nov.Read More Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHappy (Belated) Birthday to Me - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/12\/happy_belated_b.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had great intentions of marking the occasion when it happened, but, well I didn’t. Pinakidion’s birthday post reminded me. A couple of weeks ago, I had a birthday. 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A double whammy week to make me feel old, 11 years of marraige and 9 years of parenthood. She got this big, posterboard birthday card from her class. On the right hand side were comments from the kids completing the sentence \"Jessica is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family and Friends"","block_context":{"text":"Family and Friends","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/family-and-friends"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":209,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/10\/a_very_special.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":754,"position":1},"title":"A very special day.","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"October 17, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is one of the most important days of the year for me. More important that the birthdays of my children and my anniversary. Without today, those other days would not have been possible. Today is the birthday of my bride. 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After 16 birthdays together, I had to stop and think about what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family and Friends"","block_context":{"text":"Family and Friends","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/family-and-friends"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":556,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/09\/this_is_buckeye.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":754,"position":3},"title":"This is Buckeye Country","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"September 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not a big football fan, but when you live in Columbus, you can't avoid the Buckeyes. And if they're #1 and playing #2? Fugetaboutit. So, my kids are at a birthday party and I pick them up just after kickoff. As I walk up the driveway, some big play\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Other stuff","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/other-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":597,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/12\/christmas_lette.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":754,"position":4},"title":"Merry Christmas 2006","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"December 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of you will get this via snail mail with a real photo. For the rest, here's the news of our family for 2006. A lot of this was covered here on the blog at some point too. Merry Christmas. 2006 was another busy year for the Schaefer family. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family and Friends"","block_context":{"text":"Family and Friends","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/family-and-friends"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.salguod.net\/weblog\/images\/disneyphotoimage57x_web_salguod_net_image_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":364,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/07\/gods_two_boxes.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":754,"position":5},"title":"God’s Two Boxes","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"July 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I hear and read of things that people are working on in their lives or are praying for. I want to be more organized. I want to get my finances in order. I want to get into a house. 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