The Countdown Begins

When is old old?

It seems like just yesterday, I was at my family's favorite Chinese Restaurant and then I saw it . . .

Outside the window there was a clown walking with a gigantic collection of balloons - 40 to be exact. My heart raced as the clown entered the restaurant and made his way to the back room where we were sitting. He came through the door with all of those balloons and we all said "HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, DAD!" You should have seen the comedy - not of this clown making my dad blush, but of watching us trying to get home in our car when we realized we had to fit 40 balloons in the car with us. We looked like something out of the circus ourselves - a car filled with nothing but balloons and 5 faces trying to breathe.

That was 1984. Good times.

Next year, on March 13, 2011, I will turn 40 years old. How did this happen?

I certainly remember thinking, "Wow. 40. That's old." when I was looking at my Dad that night. It seemed like such a milestone. But here I am facing 40 down in about a year, and I have to say, "Wow. 40. That's old." Now, the truth is, I don't "feel" 40 - but what does 40 "feel" like? I don't "look" 40 - people rarely guess my correct age. Is 40 the new 30? I don't know. What I do know is this. I'm turning 39 this week, and as I hold on to the last year this side of 40, here's what I plan to do next year when I turn 40 . . .

I plan to celebrate.

Of course, this is just a plan. The truth is, life is not promised to us. I can't truly expect to be here next year, next month, or even tomorrow.
All I've got is today. But for today, I will plan - not expect. I plan to hold a concert sometime in late February/early March - a concert/CD release of THE ADVENTURES OF FUNKYMAN. I have never done a concert featuring me before. I have never done a concert featuring my secular songs. Here it comes - get ready. More info coming.

For now, I will prepare for March 13, 2010 - 39 years old.

Below this entry, you will find an mp3 of a cut from that upcoming CD - "Clark Kent."
It's not only a shy-guy-longing-for-girl metaphor for Superman. It's how I feel about life sometimes - my so-called mid-life crisis.

In September 2008, I wrote a reflective blog on my mid-life "crisis." Click here if you missed it. Here's a quote from that entry:

I am healthy.
I am not a slave.
I have the right to vote.
I eat every day.
I have two parents who love me and provided for me.
I have an education.
I am surrounded by people, students, and colleagues who appreciate not only the talents God gave me, but me.
I am married to the person God consecrated for me.
I am the father to an angel (in training!).

So, 39 years is more than some have had, and is more than I was promised.

Hope to see you all on the other side of 40 next year.

- Funkyman