I just realized what today really means. It means my little girl, my recently married daughter, is no longer a TEENAGER. Now, I had realized that she wouldn't be a teenager after today before today, but what I had not pondered was what that means about Cindi and me. Not only is our daughter married, but we are now the parents of a 20-something year old! Is this the official move into middle age? Or old age? Or something??? I am feeling the need to recite the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock...
Of course, Cindi just reminded me, Debbi, who is younger than we are, crossed this threshold back in May.
Oh well, in any case, Lauren Elizabeth Herberts, happy birthday! And a safe journey home!
14 comments:
Actually, 19 was much harder than 20. Not so much for my feeling old (since I am oh so much younger than you), but it was the reality that she was growing up and LEAVING home.
Happy birthday Mrs. Herberts!
Welcome to middle age, dude. The staple fold in the book of your life. It's all downhill from here, baby. Four pieces of advice and then one more:
1. exercise
2. avoid living medically as much as possible; don't read books/magazines/web sites on aging
3 if you haven't done so already, take up a hobby suitable to your personality (for me scuba diving, woodworking)
4. avoid fast cars and young women
5. embrace the death - to live is Christ, to die is gain
Great quote from John Michael Talbot (whose music I really like):
"At 52, people are telling me that I'm having a mid-life crisis. If 52 is mid-life, I'm going to live a lot longer than I planned."
William,
1. exercise - doing it. At least moderately so. Bike riding and weights.
2. living medically - I avoid it at all costs!
3. hobby??? - Well, maybe piano playing and book reading, and I think I'm going to add visiting Mexico as often as I can afford.
4. Fast cars are easy to avoid when all five vehicles in the Weedon name are over 100,000. ;) As for young women, no danger there! "I have heard the mermaids singing each to each, I do not think they sing to me." ;)
5. Amen to number five. I've been working on Starck's "death and dying" section for weeks now. In the old version it from 377 to 454!!!
Of course, what you left off the list was LO' CARB EATIN'!!!!
Oy. Pr. Cwirla, take it from someone who knows: Don't listen to Weedon.
Bill, congrats on becoming a Geezer.
Much love,
Charlie
Okay, Pastor Lehmann, I hereby officially challenge you to eat lo-carb from now until the day of your nuptials AND to exercise regularly. I promise you, your bride will appreciate the results!!!
I am doing the exercising. Have walked nearly twenty miles in the past week and will probably break twenty today. ;-)
If you have to worry about carbs, you ain't excercisin' enough!
- Jeff
Jeff,
It's because I do low carb, that I don't need to worry about exercising all that much. I mean, I may be wrong, but I'm willing to bet that there are not many men out there who on their daughter's wedding weigh what they did at their own and wear the same sized waste! That was definitely not the case before the lo-carb way of eating became standard at the Weedon household.
I can't argue with the lo-carb approach. I know too many people for whom it works. Not all carbs are created equal. Complex carbs are far better than the simple carbs of refined sugar and corn syrup. We tend to follow the approach of eating around the perimeter of the grocery store - lots of whole foods. Avoid diets at all costs, however. They're gnostic religions that enrich only the "enlightened" gurus who publish their secret gnosis. Fasting and feasting is a far better rhythm.
From what I've been told by those who have gone before us, the 50's can be a pretty decent decade of life. A modicum of wisdom starts to settle in, mostly out of necessity, since you tend to forget the details anyway.
William,
Exactly what we do: shop the perimeter! You're right about the carbs. The ones we avoid for the most part is white flour and sugar and starchy veggies like tatters and corn. We're quite generous with vegetables and fruits, though we eat them mostly in season. Right now we're enjoying the 'lopes!
ones...is...
Oy! You can tell I haven't had my coffee this a.m.?
I hope my comment didn't come off as a slam on low-carb eating. My point was that excercise should be a goal in and of itself, not simply as a means to lose weight. It helps SO many things other than weight, like cancer, heart disease, and stress. And research is now beginning to show that physical fitness might be more important than being skinny for our long-term health. If, as a nation, we'd all quit focusing on our weight and just get off our lazy duffs, the weight issue would take care of itself. (And, I suppose, we need to get over our gluttony - the curse of a wealthy nation.)
A blessed Lord's Day to all!
Pax!
Jeff
Jeff,
I agree. It's important. I know how I feel when I am being faithful at exercising and how I feel when I am not - no contest.
The eating thing is a problem with too much, that's for sure. When Cin and I go out on Fridays for lunch, we usually just share a single meal. It's always more than enough. This last Friday we had six shrimp and a five ounce filet mignon with a salad and some veggies. It was just perfect for the two of us. We left without feeling the least bit stuffed, but completely satisfied. Cindi also thinks a key to eating well is to eat sloooooooooooowly. Not this boy. I inhale my food. I am invariably the first one finished at a meal. The family debates whether Lucy or I woof the food faster. Germans have a word for it: fressen. That's animals gobbling. ;)
Any of you guys 57?
Throw a ten and eleven year old in the mix and the other factors either take care of themselves or else it's that there isn't time to worry about them.
I still have my Fiero though. Gets driven about 500 miles a year. Three people, two seats, I'm sure you get it. I can still heel and toe though. Mostly it takes up space.
Everything works and nothing hurts so far. What amazes me is that, given that most of the people in my life situation are fifteen or twenty or so years younger than I am (which includes most of the women I meet), so many of them have all kinds of aches and pains!
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