More Midlife Crisis Thoughts

13 June 07

Doing the single dad thing while my wife is away on business has given me too much time to think. Of course, that leads me back to the whole, “Holy crap I’m 40!” business.

I was putting my kids to bed last night and, as usual, my oldest asked me to play guitar. He requested my shortest song since I let him stay up WAY past his bedtime to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Spike TV.

Don’t tell mom.

The shortest song I know is My Grandfather’s Clock:

My grandfather's clock

Was too large for the shelf,

So it stood ninety years on the floor;

It was taller by half

Than the old man himself,

Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.

It was bought on the morn

Of the day that he was born,

And was always his treasure and pride;

But it stopped short

Never to go again,

When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering,

Tick, tock, tick, tock,

His life seconds numbering,

Tick, tock, tick, tock,

It stopped short

Never to go again,

When the old man died.

Great. Another song about mortality.

Random other thought. I was picking up lunch last week, and I was in uniform. I started chatting with a young man at the counter. He was in his 20’s and was curious about military life. When I mentioned that I’m headed to Iraq, he was visibly stunned. “I don’t know what to say. Good luck, I guess.”

I thanked him and kind of casually said the first thing that came to mind. Here is my reply:

"I’m kind of resolved to the whole combat thing now. In fact, I’m looking forward to it. In the end, life is all about experiences, and this should be one hell of an experience."

It was a throwaway sentence, but it kind of rings true, no?

PS. You are a serious geek if this comic makes you laugh. I nearly busted a gut.