Nope, no midlife crisis here. No sudden urge to buy a red sports car; or grow a ponytail / get a tat / pierce something; or start chasing 20-something women. None of that mess at all. My 45th year on this rock actually finds me with a nascent sense of near-contentment. I'm reasonably healthy. I have employment, food, shelter, wheels, and a budding relationship of Significance once more. My music is still with me {and as wanton as ever}, and my freelance-writing niche has flared to life again quite unexpectedly - my latest article will appear in the Summer edition of Classic Trains Magazine {should hit the newsstands around April or May}.
Oh, there's still the daily grind and a spot of mopping up still to be done before things will shift back into higher gears again, but the momentum is slowly - and steadily - building. Doors of opportunity are cropping up here and there, and for once my "checkered" resum`e looks to begin to pay off handsomely in the very near future. Not that I haven't already had a pretty full and at times a rather vivid life to date, mind you. It's pretty hard to argue with a fair amount of national and international travel; several hundred concert performances {and counting}; a healthy contingent of staunch Friends; eight years of blogging; and more or less the freedom to do it all "my way," or at least come pretty damn close.
Things could be much, much worse, believe me.
Somehow, some way, I'm actually taking my own damn advice and just laying back and riding the groove with nary a concern about where it all may lead, what might or could happen, or anything else. The groove is the thing, in other words - period. Life is what we make it, and I'm getting too bloody old and tired to keep trying to re-invent the wheel, cash in on the next Pet Rock, or become Supreme Dictator of whatever. Others can struggle with such issues; myself, I'm pretty much done with the trivialities. If my attitude qualifies as "mature wisdom," then so be it. I'm proud of each wrinkle and grey hair on my battered and abused body - those are my Badges of Honor, and every last one of them was earned the "hard" way.
"Middle-age?" I now think of it as High Noon, the peak. The kicker is that whilst at the peak, you can pretty much do what you like {to paraphrase one of my favorite Ginger Baker songs} if you have the courage. I do, and more importantly, I will. As long as I'm true {and good} to myself, all shall be Well. Being good to myself is easy - my personal Birthday tradition of long standing sums it all up perfectly. So I hereby invite all and sundry to join the revelry by digging this track, which was cut on 1/26/68:
{And a postscript shout-out to Fellow "26ers" Wayne Gretzky, Eddie Van Halen, and Corky Laing - I Salute you, Birthday-Brothers!!!}
