Tonight as I sat at Johnny Carinos Italian Restaurant it occured to me that I may be approaching "middle age". My wife was too busy to cook dinner so I was on my own tonight and set out on a journey that, in my best deep-radio voice, could only be described as "one man's journey from youth to adult hood in just 13 tortelinis.
I gotta tell you, I was totally self aware during dinner. There were two young girls at the bar to my left. A king size titanium girdle couldn't have helped me this evening. I looked over just in time to get a glimpse of them NOT looking at me. Just for safety's sake, I "sucked in my gut" in case they were in need of some serious eye candy. What really hit me the most bluntly was that I was reading the Sears and Roebuck Tool Catelog during dinner. Actually, I found it quite compelling and I am now ready to order a welding machine and a house size generator to go with my 987 piece Craftsman kit. Tools are cool. If you are 46.
This is where I got a little older. Look at me, a 46 year old chubby guy sitting alone, reading the Sears catalog. It didn't even have a bra section. All that I was missing were the bermuda shorts with knee high blue socks jumping out of my white leather shoes complete with a gold buckle. Perhaps I am destined for Florida at an early age. Tonight I felt old. And a little bit alone. I gotta get me one of those wratchet sets.
I often wonder if the daily pressure to keep things going affects others like it does me. Everyone experiences it I am sure, but few react to it. How do you keep things going in the right direction? Am I living a marginal life? Is any of this making a difference? I think I am going to re-read "Purpose Driven Life" and see if I missed a section or something. Perhaps it is just the way it goes in December.
Tomorrow is my mothers birthday. She would have been 67.
Solomon Group National Education Center
Creed: To Glorify God and help people.
