# Anybody hit a milestone birthday and start reflecting back?



## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

So today is a milestone birthday for me. I am 28 plus tax, shipping and handling.
So last night it kind of hit me hard that there are so many things I thought I would have accomplished by now. Granted there is nothing saying I can't finish this up before another milestone birthday but has anybody hit a certain age and thought huh, I should have......?


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## Whip Morgan (May 26, 2011)

Does being my personal fashion consultant mean so little? I'm hurt.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

Whip Morgan said:


> Does being my personal fashion consultant mean so little? I'm hurt.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Awe, Whip! Yes, I count that in my tally of things well done. 
Keep rockin' the spiffy suit and some lovin' for the Chargers.


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## Almostrecovered (Jul 14, 2011)

Dday was a few months prior to my 40th so yeah, it was awful
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## sigma1299 (May 26, 2011)

My AP sent me that friend request kicking off my EA two days before my 38th so my bday's a speed bump from now on. But I got even with my AP, D Day is one week after her's so she gets a speed bump to 

I've got 40 on the horizon - coulda, woulda, shoulda...


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## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

I guess I didn't phrase this well. What I meant was are there things you wished you accomplished prior to a milestone birthday? As in, you have your birthday and realize damn, I should have done this, that and whatever? 
And yeah, I turned 40 today or 28 plus tax, shipping and handling to the viewing audience.


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## sigma1299 (May 26, 2011)

I get maybe a little nostalgic but I'm not really one to get caught up in what's done. I did always believe that when I was pushing 40 hard I'd have it all figured out and feel much more like an adult. Then I listen to my father who just had his 67th and he says the exact same thing. So I guess I'll feel like I'm just stumbling through this as a kid for the duration. I'm sooooooooo looking foward to my black balloons though 

Happy Birthday!!


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## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

Almostrecovered said:


> Dday was a few months prior to my 40th so yeah, it was awful
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I am so sorry you went through that. I have a friend who literally found out on her 40th that her husband was cheating. Never saw another human being in such pain. She ended up in the hospital as her birthday celebration.  and  for both you and her.


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## michzz (Jun 6, 2008)

Therealbrighteyes said:


> So today is a milestone birthday for me. I am 28 plus tax, shipping and handling.
> So last night it kind of hit me hard that there are so many things I thought I would have accomplished by now. Granted there is nothing saying I can't finish this up before another milestone birthday but has anybody hit a certain age and thought huh, I should have......?


Have a happy birthday! If you get sad about the number, which is an arbitrary thing, appreciate the alternative. 

Great things await you.


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## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

sigma1299 said:


> I get maybe a little nostalgic but I'm not really one to get caught up in what's done. I did always believe that when I was pushing 40 hard I'd have it all figured out and feel much more like an adult. Then I listen to my father who just had his 67th and he says the exact same thing. So I guess I'll feel like I'm just stumbling through this as a kid for the duration. I'm sooooooooo looking foward to my black balloons though
> 
> Happy Birthday!!


I too feel like a kid. Heck I have kids and half the time I think "whose kids are these? Whaaaat? They're mine?". 
I often look in the mirror and of course see what is staring back at me, yet I find myself thinking wait a minute, this person dances in the rain and hops on the shopping carts at the grocery store and glides down the aisles. How am I 40 and when will I grow up?! Meanwhile the people I know my age are so damn serious. Arrested development perhaps?


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

I had a great aunt who emigrated from Mother Russia to Israel when she was 96. I had another great aunt who at 104 went to work in her grandson's restaurant. My mother's father's second wife fell out of a tree swing when she was attacked by bees, and broke her arms. He was so angry that at age 80 he burned the hive out with kerosene and chopped the tree down with an axe. My mother is 80 this year and has more artificial joints than the Terminator. She's a former Russian ballerina and the tallest member of the corps they ever had. She went hiking in China/Nepal last year. I had an uncle who at 70 literally pulled a Nelson Rockefeller and died on top of his 33 year old girlfriend. I have another uncle who after having survived a particularly nasty flavor of cancer ran out and bought a house with a new 30 year mortgage. I had a cancer diagnosis the first time on my 29th birthday, the second time 4 days after my 36th birthday. My wife was told she was terminal on her 34th birthday. 

Numbers are crap, milestones are stupid and regret is for the faint of heart.


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## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

Runs like Dog said:


> I had a great aunt who emigrated from Mother Russia to Israel when she was 96. I had another great aunt who at 104 went to work in her grandson's restaurant. My mother's father's second wife fell out of a tree swing when she was attacked by bees, and broke her arms. He was so angry that at age 80 he burned the hive out with kerosene and chopped the tree down with an axe. My mother is 80 this year and has more artificial joints than the Terminator. She's a former Russian ballerina and the tallest member of the corps they ever had. She went hiking in China/Nepal last year. I had an uncle who at 70 literally pulled a Nelson Rockefeller and died on top of his 33 year old girlfriend. I have another uncle who after having survived a particularly nasty flavor of cancer ran out and bought a house with a new 30 year mortgage. I had a cancer diagnosis the first time on my 29th birthday, the second time 4 days after my 36th birthday. My wife was told she was terminal on her 34th birthday.
> 
> Numbers are crap, milestones are stupid and regret is for the faint of heart.


Runs, thank you. Just thank you. You brought a wide smile to my face imagining your ancestors doing all that. 
My father's mother (from Sweden) lived through WWII, never knowing if Sweden was going to be invaded. She was already a widow with one son (my father) and three daughters and struggled to make ends meet with her tiny bakery. She watched as the government came and took the tires off her car, stripped the bumpers for the metal and raided her house for other "meltable" items.
At the age of 87, she came to live with us in the States. I will never forget the day I came home from school. She was standing outside by our mailbox with no shirt and no bra. Just au natural. I ran up to her and said in Swedish (as she didn't speak English) "What are you doing?!?!". She said she was shaking things up and that everybody here were too serious. She thought that an elderly woman exposing her breasts would cause a stir and make things a bit exciting. I was horrified at the time but now I understand why she did it. After everything she has lived through, never take life too seriously.
Again thank you Runs, I had forgotten that part of my childhood.


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

Yes my mother was in the corps. At 6ft too tall for a lead role. Her mother made her take lessons because she told her she was too gawky to get a man so she needed a skill. 

My parents were refuseniks who fled the 3CP shortly after Stalin's death when the government opened up a bit. Oddly she never made a big deal out teaching either my sister or me anything about dance. And she was teaching dance and performing in local productions at the time.


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## Therealbrighteyes (Feb 11, 2010)

Runs like Dog said:


> Yes my mother was in the corps. At 6ft too tall for a lead role. Her mother made her take lessons because she told her she was too gawky to get a man so she sneeded a skill.
> 
> My parents were refuseniks who fled the 3CP shortly after Stalin's death when the government opened up a bit. Oddly she never made a big deal out teaching either my sister or me anything about dance. And she was teaching dance and performing in local productions at the time.


Sorry that I changed my post, I thought I was getting too off track!! Gah, I am sorry. 
Your Mother sounds amazing, just simply breathtaking. The most beautiful woman I have ever met in my life was a Russian immigrant who was in her 60's, former ballerina and she was still tall, lean, long necked and beyond beautiful in every sense of the word, inside and out. She was also my ballet teacher.


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## AFEH (May 18, 2010)

"The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living". Socrates.

Forty, fifty and sixty. Sixty was the easiest transition and in many ways I’m loving it. I’ve always been a long term planner. When at a crossroads I imagine myself 20 years ahead and “look back” to try and get a feel of what my life would be like dependent on which path I took. Doing that I’ve never had any real regrets. Before my separation I did the same thing, but this time I was a 75 year old sitting in an armchair. I didn’t like what I saw, my wife still with her resentment from years/decades ago. I didn’t like it enough to call it a day and never attempt a reconciliation.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

Happy Birthday!!!

Yes, I hit one of those looking back moments when I turned 35. Started writing fiction. Moderately bad fiction, but it was more about doing something that I promised myself that I would do. 

My 46th a little over a week ago was one that turned into a bit of a pity party. Seemed that everything that could go wrong went wrong. For a few hours, I looked back and had some thoughts of reflection that I would normally not give into. I'm one of those who goes all out, with streamers, cake, surprise parties, etc. For me though: No card. The gift was a tv series on DVD that I told her recently that I hated (she only remembered me mentioning it). She forgot to get a cake until the last moment, and the attempt to write happy birthday turned into something resembling a ball of yarn on the cake. She made my 'favorite' meal. But it was the one that I've told her about ten times that it makes me violently ill. I ate a small serving to be nice and spent the night hugging the porcelan throne. Because I got sick, I had no cake, and it was all gone by the time I got better. Hope yours is going better.


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