This is It !

It’s happening. Mid-life. At forty-one, solidly arrived on the other shore, life feels just a tiny bit more like a gigantic wet towel. While the twenties were full of arrogant energy, ideas and goals, the thirties abounded in a can-do attitude that resembled that of a frost bitten summit chaser. Joggling double and triple days, childhood illnesses, and family feuds, that decade was not an easy one, and so it comes as no surprise if the aftershocks can still be felt at this end....

There is a mental fatigue now that seems to linger which is only topped by the exhaustion of everyday life that hasn’t let off as babies turned into pre-teens. What is this? One asks while checking ones mid-section on a dreary morning...I didn’t use to look like THAT!! And what’s with the grey curly hairs sprouting everywhere - can’t pull all of them out (or can I?)...not to mention the sneaky woodworm that has slyly dug its way through our faces. Where was I when all of this happened?

These days, long nights are no longer a sign of vivacious energy, but a blatant mistake. Headaches, a stiff back and an acting up ischias are reminders that we need to take better care of ourselves....pick up yoga, pilates, nordic walking. And alas, chocolate is not as quickly metabolized as before and will need reconsideration. Darn.

And then there is our other half - if they stuck around until now. This is the time of reckoning and many will in the end reckon that it is time to move in separate directions, leaving afore mentioned children and mortgage payments in their wake. For those who are more inclined to reconcile, there remains the certainty that this is it. This is their life, these are the recurring issues, and ongoing annoyances and very little is going to change. Not for better but maybe for worse.

Do you remember the Game of Life? It was a board game, that made it onto almost everyone’s shelf in the eighties. Players moved through their fictitous lives in little baby pink and blue cars to end up in either a semi-detached (oops!) or grand mansion (congrats!) at the finishing line, depending on the amount of personal bankruptcies and lottery cash ins they happened to come accross on their journey.

I loved that game, especially the part where one had to spin the wheel to see how many children were to travel along in the car - I always hoped for twins. Well, I know better today. And for whatever its worth, that’s an insight one rarely gains before turning forty.