I'd like to announce that I've officially reached middle age.

[XNASA]

Yesterday I purchased a dark brown leather club chair and matching ottoman.

I plan on using my new chair as a place to sip bourbon while wearing reading glasses that are perched upon the end of my nose. Occasionally I will glance up at my wife who will be sitting on the sofa across from me, knitting needles in hand.

Is this how it's supposed to happen?

:shrug:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Sounds like a nice warm enema to me

:evilgrin:

[XNASA]

2. So you're saying "Yes"?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. affirmative, chap

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

I don't think so

but if it floats your boat, ok.

My husband cut a rick of firewood today and I helped unload it after burning trash. No leather furniture, no burbon, and my arthritis keeps me from knitting anymore.

BTW, what do you call "middle aged"?

[XNASA]

9. It's when you decide to stop partying........

At the least the binge drinking part.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

45. Uh oh

that means I've always been middle aged, since I don't drink!

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Your waist has to move up to just below your mantits.

This is a very important part of middle age.

[XNASA]

8. But there's the rub......

I realize that because I'm in this predicament, I must do something about maintaining my health. So....

I'm joining the community fitness center this week. So part of deciding to finally act my age is to start taking better care of myself. I wouldn't be surprised that if within 6 months, I actually feel younger.

Quite a conundrum, ain't it?

[Liberal Veteran]

16. That's okay...you should still wear your pants...

...as far above the bellybutton as humanly possible.

[terrya]

4. That's EXACTLY what I've gone through!

Except for the wife, the leather brown club chair, the ottoman, the reading glasses perched on my nose...

Other than those differences...same thing! :-)

T

[XNASA]

10. Shame on you. You're much younger than I am...........

Don't stop now!!!

Besides.......I live vicariously through people like you.

[terrya]

14. I don't know if I am, my friend.

I'm 48....

And I won't stop now. :-)

And the next time we have a meetup: show up!! :-)

T

[XNASA]

20. You. You're 48?????

Wow. I had you figured for much younger. Forty tops!

We're the same age then, actually, you're a bit older..but not much.

Besides, it's not the age.......it's the miles. And I gotta lotta miles.

[terrya]

23. Ah...thanks for the very nice compliment!

Yep. The birthday is 04/10/56. I'm creeping up to 50...yikes!

YOU don't look that old...maybe 41. I honestly didn't peg you as that old.

Let's neither of us act "old". We still have a LOT of miles ahead of us.

T

[Bouncy Ball]

5. We have dark brown leather furniture

couch, sofa, chair and ottoman. Oh no!

[autorank]

7. No, you are supposed to have a mid-life crisis.

You sip a 1/2 pint of Jack out of a brown paper bag while you wait for your "hook up" to finish her shift at Denny's. She's 10 years younger, but likes you for some reason. After an evening of merriment, you swig some mouth wash and put on a dab of cologne and head home, hoping your wife is home from her assignation and asleep.

As years go on, you tell yourself Lauren Hutton was right when she said: "Fifty is the new thirty" because you'll start your acting out all over again when you hit 50.

It's all good you tell yourself until you realize you need meaning in your life and you devote yourself to ***THE VOTING RIGHTS*** movement. Hurry up, get over it, we need your help (but enjoy this little rite of passage).

[XNASA]

12. Oh I could never do anything like that.........

I can't stand Jack Daniels. And we all know that it's improper to swig good bourbon out of a paper bag.

I use a silver flask.

[autorank]

18. If those are the only exceptions, you are good to go! Have fun!

[autorank]

19. And about that brown paper bag,

If it's good enough for Reinforced White Port, it's good enough for Bourbon.

[da_chimperor]

11. I'm in my early 20's, and I'd buy one of those chairs if I had the money

complete with the ottoman. Sounds very comfortable. If you're feeling unsure about your purchase . . . I do accept charity. :)

[Sanity Claws]

13. I generally respect my elders but

it sounds like you bypassed middle-aged and went straight into your dotage.

;-)

[XNASA]

15. You're exactly right!!!

A few months ago, I was still playing guitar in a garage rock band....

And now it's all this.

LOL!!!!!

[miss_kitty]

17. what-you're 65?

:P

[Liberal Veteran]

21. That always kinda bothered me...

When people who are in their 60's say they are "middle-aged".

Like, how many 130 year old people do you know?

I figure 40-45 is the onset of "middle age".

[madrchsod]

25. ya the body might be middle age

at 40 or 45 but it`s the mind that counts..at least that is what i keep telling myself....

[madrchsod]

22. actually i can picture you in the chair

and that is frighting ..but really it`s a nice chair to get comfy on these crappy nights in northern il. by the way, there`s ice storm on the way so there`s no reason to move....

[XNASA]

24. Am I using a drool cup in your vision?

Perhaps a crocheted blanket draped acrossed my lap...the cat at my side?

That's it!!! I'm cancelling the order.

Ice storm, huh? Not again.

[madrchsod]

26. no, nothing that bad....

[Jade Fox]

27. I knew I was middle-aged....

when I developed an intense fondness for slip-on shoes. Has that hit ya
yet?

[arwalden]

28. Silk smoking jacket? Ascot?

Yes! That's exactly how it's supposed to happen! It's wonderful ain't it!

[madrchsod]

30. actually allen, he would look good

in a smoking jacket and an ascot..........

[arwalden]

33. I've Seen Pictures... So It's Not Difficult To Imagine...

... but would it be too Hefner-ish?

-- Allen

PS: The only thing that was missing from the description in the original post would have been: shearling slippers, a warm fire burning softly in the fire place, a cat curled up on an oval cord rug near the fire, and a loyal dog at his master's feet.

[XNASA]

38. You know. I have a red smoking jacket. With black silk lapels...

This might work!

Only, I quit smoking. I'd feel like one of those guys in high school who walks around with a condom in his wallet......but can't get a date.

[nini]

29. I can identify with the glasses thing..

don't have the matching chair and ottoman though.

welcome to the club!

[democracyindanger]

31. But the reading glasses could be funky

like the ones Ozzy Osborne wears.

Okay, bad example.

[AlCzervik]

32. Thats a pretty good way to usher in middle age imo

when my Dad turned 45 he grew a beard and bought a huge motorcycle which he looked really stupid on seeing as he's only 5'6. he also started wearing a big silver coint on a chain, mind you this was like 1980 but you can get a visual i'm sure.

[greatauntoftriplets]

34. Have you yet received the invite to join AARP?

I think not. Somehow I fell beyond their radar. A friend who received the letter sent it back to AARP asking them not to harass her.

[tmooses]

35. I always thought when I reached middle geezerhood I would become...

more conservative. Well, it sure hasn't turned out that way. It might be I've stayed the same and the rest of the country has taken a sharp right and is headed toward a dead end. I'm more active politically now then I've ever been.

[Elidor]

36. It's insidious, isn't it?

It comes over you by degrees, like a frog in a pot of water while someone slowly turns up the heat. No particular change seems all that drastic, but suddenly things are looking very different…

[XNASA]

39. You can say that again........

Little by little, inch by inch.

I think it's fatherhood that really put me over the top. And not having youngsters in the house but having teenagers in the house.

When your kids get bigger than you are....it somehow makes you want to slow it down a little, if only to relish it for a bit longer.

[Lenape85]

37. I dunno, but I'm turning 20

Totally feels like middle age to me

[salin]

40. So, does your wife know

that you have just consigned her to sitting across from you in the cozy living room... knitting and smiling up at you? Yikes!

[XNASA]

41. Oh, she's been at it for years........

It more like I'll be joining her now. ;)

[salin]

42. Just think... you can do a knitting version

of the spaghetti scene in 'Lady and the Tramp'... since you'll be "joining her" (being very literal tonight)... you can sit across from each other knitting on the two ends... until you meet in the middle!

Okay - how verging on middle age is the fact that the thought and reference even came into my head...

[XNASA]

43. More like....after a stiff bourbon, I rise from my leather chair....

Trip on the coffee table and tumble headfirst into her, impaling myself on a knitting needle...requiring a visit to the ER.

Luckily the local hospital it close by.

[catzies]

44. Is it a vibrating chair?? I SO want one of those.

I'd never leave the house.

It's good for my arthritis. Yeah, that's the ticket, my arthritis. :evilgrin:

If middle age = the good life, I'd say you're doing fine in your depiction of domesticity. It sounds sweet.

[WritersBlock]

46. Happened that way for us, too.

Except we got matching chairs.

Only I can't sit in mine anymore because it aggravates my back. And my husband's taken to lying on the sofa snoring in the evenings instead of sitting in his chair.

"Wake up - it's time to go to bed."