Fischer: What’s my age again?

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

It’s my birthday today.

I’m 39 now. What a weird age to be.

I’d like to make some profound observations about this particular milestone but I’m kinda at loss. I’m still in my thirties, technically. Not quite at the big 4-0 yet, but also not really that much to go to matter.

Age 39 really just kinda feels like a “holding pattern” year. Too close to 40 to really be considered “young,” but still too early to embrace the next phase of your life.

Granting, of course, that it’s all arbitrary at this stage.

Outside of having to scroll a little bit farther down to find my birth year when verifying my age on a website, I can’t say I’ve noticed much appreciable difference from one year to the next for the last decade or so. Frankly, I had to do a little bit of mental math this morning to figure out exactly how old I was turning today. I legitimately could not remember if I was turning 38 or 39.

Sure, I recognize that I’m delving ever deeper into “middle-age.” The grey hairs are getting ever more prominent and the younger generations keep get a little more alien to me. And, of course, the occasional ache in the knee I broke in 2015 is an eternal reminder that I’m not a kid anymore.

Some aspects about my thirties I’m ready to say “Good Riddance” to. For others, I’ve had the time of my life.

I’ve grown, personally and professionally. I’ve seen a bit of the world and enjoy some of the wisdom that comes with experience. I’ve even finally decided on maintaining a beard full-time, rather than growing it out and shaving it off every couple months. That was a big life choice.

At the same time, the older I get the less it seems to matter. I can’t really say “Darn it, I changed again,” like I used to. I’m far removed from the milestones of graduation or getting my first apartment. But I’m also still young enough that retirement still seems like a distant hypothetical rather than an impending certainty. (Though, depending on how the next couple of elections go, I suppose retirement could actually be more hypothetical than certain.)

Unlike my turbulent 20s, I’m old enough to feel like I’m in too deep anymore. Being more-or-less in the middle, I feel like I’m just kinda in a nice status quo.

As the recently deceased modern philosopher Steve Harwell pined, “The years start coming and they don’t stop coming. Read through the rules and you hit the ground running.”

However, “All Star” does not have a verse noting that, after a while, those years start to blend together.

Maybe 40 will be different.

Probably not, substantially, but we tend to ascribe significance to multiples of 10 so at least I can pretend.

— Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and yes, this column is loaded with 90s punk rock references because that’s the music I like. Because I’m old now.