40

We had a big event happen here this weekend...the 60th follower of the blog. So a big welcome to Chantal over at My Paper Heart, who also just moved to Iqaluit. Welcome to the north. Sorry for the chilly reception on the weekend, but well, it's January. -50C is a bitch, but not entirely unexpected.

Oh yes, and I turned 40.

The big day was actually yesterday and I really did have every intention on doing a blog about it. However, when I sat down to write the curling post came out. Then I apparently decided I was done writing for the day, and spent most of enjoying sloth. I watched two football games (%$#@! Chargers), ate some birthday cake, enjoyed a homemade birthday lasagna cooked by my lovely wife, took some phone calls, enjoyed the many well wishes on Facebook and that was it.

It was perhaps not the most spectacular way to spend your 40th. My father, for example, fled to Toronto and dragged the family along in the new convertible Camero for his 40th, primarily, I suspect, to avoid what his co-workers at the post office would have done to him.

However, there was no new sports car or over the top compensations for turning 40. Cathy bought me the complete Battlestar Galactica, which I'm looking forward to watching. I haven't decided what I will treat myself to yet for my birthday. It will likely either be a massive Chapters order or perhaps Rock Band: Beatles. Or maybe even both, if I'm feeling very indulgent.

Turning 40 isn't so much the "oh God, I'm ooooold. Rather, it's kind of, "Well, I liked my 30s. They were nice. I'm going to miss them." My 30s are kind of where I figured things out. I met a nice girl and got married. I moved to a new place, decided we rather liked it here and decided to make it home and buy a home. I picked up curling again and discovered I'm actually kind of good at it.

I recall dreading my 30s when I was 29. I think that was the case for most of my friends. When I was 29 I was single, living in a damp basement apartment with a series of crazy roommates in Clarenville making a poverty wage. I was honestly beginning to wonder if this was going to be my lot in life. If, after all the big dreams in university, this is what I was going to do.

I wasn't alone in that regard. I know many of my friends took hitting 30 pretty hard. When in university, and in a student newspaper, there is the conviction that you were going out in the world and change it for the better. We hit 30 and things weren't going to plan. We'd scattered, and some of us were struggling to get things in gear. I certainly was.

While it's not the case for everyone, I think for most of my friends, their 30s have been a good experience. So yeah, I think 40 is more a slight sadness at the ending of a really good decade. So here's hoping the next decade will be as good as the last one. If I can say at 50 that I'm really going to miss all the fun and good times I had when looking back at my 40s, then I think I'll consider that a success.

Last Five
1. Bone of song - Josh Ritter
2. Song for a winter's night - Sarah McLachlan
3. Istanbul (not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants*
4. A sight for sore eyes - Tom Waits
5. September Lily - Hawksley Workman