An Adventure, Or Two, Or Three….

I wasn’t going to tell you this. In the end I figured, well, why not? We’re friends here. 🙂

I’m fast approaching a milestone birthday that ends in a “zero.”

Free Stock Photo: Cupcakes with birthday candles.

You may know that “James,” one of my main characters, is 29 years of age in 1994:

Excerpt from “Passports,” on the iPad app for Kindle. Click to expand.

He is fiction, of course. However, as you may also know I’ve based him – sometimes closely, sometimes not – on, well…. me. Age is one area where he’s “closely” based on me: so if you do the age arithmetic correctly, you can easily guess how old I will be turning shortly.

It’s incredible. I never thought it would be possible. Because… because…. uh, old people used to be what will soon be MY AGE! 😉

Kidding aside, it’s remarkable looking back on what you once were. If you are lots younger, you will (hopefully) get here eventually and you’ll learn it for yourself someday. Personal experience talking: Life flies by VERY quickly.

Sunset mountain view, Alaska, 1994. [Photo by me.]

If you aren’t there yet, you will eventually find yourself in your later 40s. When you look back on your life to date, were there people you’d met (even if all did not always go “well” with them) who’d taken you well out of your comfort zone? Were there noteworthy places you’d visited, or even lived? Were there things you’ve done that will make you smile as you recall them?

Make sure you make memories for yourself when you’re young-ish. There is no substitute for getting to know people you might never otherwise have met in this life. We all need a few adventures to look back on decades afterwards.

Thinking on things now, I’m wondering how much aging may have to do with my writing? Other middle-aged men buy sports cars, but I’ve never cared much about cars. And “James” doesn’t really either: