Today I turn fifty.

This isn’t exactly groundbreaking news. There are a lot of fifty year olds out there. Almost everybody else in the Class of ’82 has already turned that corner. My wife has already turned fifty. (And that’s all I have to say about that.) It’s never happened to me before, though, and it got me to thinking.

Other milestone birthdays that are known to instigate mid-life crises have come and gone with barely a thought from me. Thirty was no big deal at all. When I was on trail crews, all of my bosses were over thirty and they could still work and hike me into the ground at twenty-two. Thirty wasn’t old at all. At forty, I was married with two little kids and had settled into a career. I still had a lot to view ahead of me.

Fifty, now…

The kids are getting ready…