Another milestone reached, and a time for reflection:
At 40, my dad had raised three children, the youngest aged 12
I have no kids.
At 40, my dad had owned 3 homes.
I pay rent.
At 40, my dad owned and operated his own business.
I am a journeyman teacher.
At 40, my dad was well-known in the community.
I am rootless at the moment.
At 40, my dad had prepared for his (and our) future by saving and investing.
For the most part, I am still living paycheck to paycheck.
By the standard measures of 'success'and 'accomplishment', it is tough to compare. However, the following facts, much more important to me, are also true:
My dad never played in a rock and roll band, wrote songs, or recorded them. My dad never went to Europe. At 40, my dad had never lived in amazing places like Memphis, New Orleans, and New York. He had never been to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Mobile, St. Louis, Columbus, Natchez, Boston, Berkeley, San Antonio, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Nashville, Knoxville or Little Rock. He had never stayed out all night in the French Quarter or on the Left Bank. My dad had not read Chabon, Irving, Dickens, Proust, or Camus. He didn't have a college degree, nor did he and three of his idiot friends have a blog.
I am glad that he has always supported me in every decision I've made and I think he's been a little envious of my lifestyle from time to time, even if he didn't understand what in the hell I was doing sometimes.
Lurker, I think you've hit this particular milestone already? And Jay and Joe are close enough to kick it in the crotch. Today, I woke up the same as any other day, stretched, and felt glad to still be processing oxygen. Drink a 40 for your homie today y'all.
10 comments:
Happy milestone, you old bastard! Lurker can help you with any of your walker or wheelchair maintenance questions.
Are you fighting the urge to buy a convertible or make a dramatic career change yet?
Interesting compare and contrast; your dad's accomplishment's are overrated. Having a blog with three idiot friends is much more important than owning and operating a business ...
I couldn't agree more. And nope, no mid-life crisis yet, mostly because I still feel quite childlike.
Happy Birthday, Dave! Having 20 year old girlfriends has kept you younger as well.
Ha! Sounds like it would, but it actually ages you in the worst way.....say, you've got a couple of twenty year old girlfriends don't you?
Incidentally, I'm finally an iPod owner- Caroline got me the Shuffle for my bday. I spent all afternoon loading it up- I got almost 300 songs on the damn thing. Playing right now: Cruel Summer by Ace of Base! Fa real yo!
Happy Birthday! Very interesting comments, I've actually thought through the same sort of checklist with my Dad, but found it ultimately irrelevant. Different people, different eras, different choices, different results. That's a very respectable checklist you've got going, by the way and if there's a more admirable profession than teaching, I don't know what it is.
Susan stumbled onto the blog this morning, and she wanted me to relay the following to Dave:
1) Happy birthday.
2) Proust was a tool, so stop showing off.
3) SHE read Proust in French, not that weak-ass, translated bullshit you likely read.
I don't know how I feel about any of that, except to say that I want to know how she 'stumbled' onto the site.
Wow, our first non-Turkish lurker since I showed up.
It was Firefox's fault. (Stupid session saver.) Don't worry, I've made her sign the customary nondisclosure waiver.
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