Reflections upon turning 50

[Oeditpus Rex]

and on Shine's "dad pic" thread.

I've always considered 50 as officially "old," largely because I was raised around sports, where even 40 is over the hill. And, as I came along late in my parents' lives, they were in their 50s before most of my salient memories — and, of course, our parents always seem old to us.

And I find myself, especially today, feeling a bit disjointed. Neither my brain, heart nor soul feel anywhere near as old as I perceived my parents.

But my dad, in his mid-50s, spent many spring and summer days with me in the back yard, hitting ground balls to me or catching me while I practiced pitching. He could also be spontaneously "young;" I remember one day we broke into an impromptu foot race while walking home from the store (he beat me by a step, to my amazement), and one morning he said, out of the blue, "Let's go for a plane ride." Another day, as I went with him to pick up his check, as I often did, we raced a train to the crossing. It wasn't at all close, so there wasn't any danger, but it was still a thrill to a kid — not just that we did it, but that we did it.

So maybe my dad wasn't any "older" than I am, after all.

I miss him.

[Wapsie B]

1. I've met youthful people in their 80's

and old people in their 20's chronologically speaking. Age is but a number. As our number gets higher our bodies can wear out. But it's the mind and soul that keeps us young.

Happy Birthday!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Oeditpus Rex.....

You have brought the tears to my eyes today with your beautiful thread...

I read it out loud to myself, and I had to pause to collect myself before reading the last two sentences.....

What an incredible tribute to him.......

As Shine would say, and maybe already has: He is very proud of the man you have become!

And, what is remembered...Lives!

Thank you for this incredibly touching thread.....

And, Happy Birthday! Your best is yet to come, I believe......

:loveya: :hug: :loveya:

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. Thank you, Peggy

To our fathers, and their youth. :toast:

:hug: :loveya:

[SeattleGirl]

3. You're only as only as you feel, and/or as you let yourself be

Having turned 50 myself last October, I can identify with what you're feeling. My mother's 50 seemed older than mine does. However, despite her illnesses, my mom's current 70 seems younger than her 50 did. Guess it's all in the mind (even when our bodies are trying to tell us differently sometimes.)

Happy birthday again, my friend. :toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast:

[Call Me Wesley]

4. I have stopped

identifying numbers as 'young' or 'old.' I'll hit 40 this month, and I remember a time when I was way younger that I really thought of '30' to be old. Today, there is no awareness of age anymore. It has just gotten down to the simple count of numbers and how we handle it against the outside world - but there is no real feeling about being '40', like there was no real feeling about being '30' or '20' at all.

The truth lays behind the numbers and years.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Gasp!

You married an Older Woman??



You bastard. You lucky bastard. :toast: :yourock:




So how come she looks 20 years younger'n you?

[Left Is Write]

10. Psst...

My husband did too. He's 32, and I'm almost 40. :D

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Jeebus!

All these young bucks, marryin' up — in more ways than one.



WHERE'S THE FREAKIN' JEALOUS SMILIE?? :grr:

[terrya]

5. As someone who will be turning 50 very soon...thank you for this.

Nice, nice post. :thumbsup:

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Thanks, terrya

:toast:

[livetohike]

9. Happy Birthday Oeditpus Rex!

Welcome to the 50's :toast: That was a beautiful tribute to your Dad. (I lost mine in 2004).

50 isn't so bad. I had a surprise party and two days later was hiking a trail up Mt. Shasta. Four years later and still living to hike :-).

[Shine]

11. How touching and poignant to remember your dad on this day.

The cycle of Life continues on...yes, you're getting older, but also wiser.

On this most auspicious occasion, here is my birthday wish for you:
May your Life continue to bring many surprises that delight and inspire you.
Happy 50th Birthday, my friend. :toast: :party:

[skygazer]

12. Age is a strange thing

At 45, I find myself pondering many of the same things. It seemed such an OLD age when I was a kid but has gotten strangely younger as the years have rolled by. My brain doesn't really feel much different than it did when I was 20.

And then I look at my dad, who is now 78. Sure, he doesn't ride horses anymore but he still golfs, and drives and plays league pool and walks around Civil War battlefields for hours and hours. I think probably HIS brain doesn't feel much different either.

Happy Birthday, Oeditpus. :hug:

[In_The_Wind]

13. By the time you reach 55 you'll understand.

Life really is getting better. :)
It's far from being over.






To your Dad!
It sounds like he was a wonderful man who loved you a whole lot.

[hfojvt]

45. one never really knows when it will be over

I sit here at 44 thinking that I have at least another 30 years to live but it is all too easy to meet with some unfortunate accident or stroke or lightning strike and be terminated in less than 24 hours. Some six years ago my accounting teacher, who was at least five years younger than me I believe, had breast cancer. Before my ten year HS reunion one of my HS crushes had had Hodgkin's disease for the last four years (but she also made it to the 20 year reunion).
I had a much older friend about 20 years ago. He mentioned that his brother was electrocuted when he was 65, and said that the last ten years of his own life were the best years of his life (mostly because he retired from farming and had more time to research and write local history books).
But also in that sense, I am far more satisfied with my life than I was 20 years ago, and not just because I now have running water and electricity.

[redwitch]

14. I'll be fifty this year

It's OK though, I am in really good company. :pals: Plus, as George Burns once noted, "Oh, to be seventy again". Perspective, kiddo. I don't FEEL old, therefore I am NOT old.

[trof]

15. Here, sonny. Steady my walker while I set down.

<whew>
There.

I'll qualify for Medi-Care in August.
There are a few things I can't do any more, and a lot more things I WON'T do any more.
More because of a couple of dicey vertebrae than age.

50 wasn't shit.
60, now...60 was a bigger deal.
60 used to be the cutoff for me. 60 was OLD.
Well, now it's not.

Funny, the older you get, the older "old" gets.
In 5 years and a few months I'll be 70.
Being optimistic about it and all.
That seems old to me now.
But if I make 70, I bet it won't seem THAT old then.

Just remember, past 50 "I don't want to" is the best and only excuse you need.
;-)
Mazel tov.

[auntAgonist]

17. I find it amazing that the older I got..

the smarter my parents got. Or were they always smart? I'll be 50 next year, I don't feel near that "old".

Happy Birthday to you !! :toast:

I miss my Mum. I bet your Dad was thrilled the day you arrived. :hug:


aA
kesha

[Arkham House]

18. I'm 52--and my life is just beginning...

...welcome to the club, incidentally...really: it just gets better from here...

[Carla in Ca]

19. Dear Oeditpus Rex,

I wish you a today. You are lucky to have such beautiful memories of your dad, and they sound a lot like mine. Sitting in his lap 'driving' the car and Dodger games.
And, don't feel too bad turning 50, I'll be 53 on Sunday!:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. I forgot about that

Dad taught me how to work a three-on-the-tree when I was 8 or 9. He'd work the clutch and I'd do the shifting. Never missed a gear. :D

I didn't sit on his lap to "drive," but just slid over and steered. Freaked out my mom. :D

And it was Giants games, since Candlestick was only a couple hours away. But I was still a Dodgers fan.

Thanks for the additional memories. And happy birthday in advance. :hug:

[Carla in Ca]

27. I had the pleasure of going to 'The Stick"

on fan appreciation Day in 1988, the (last) year The Dodgers won the World Series. Four Dodger fans among a sold out crowd! I was so glad to get up there before it was torn down. I was raised as a Dodger blue kid so I guess that's why I'm a Dem, right? I have 3 commemorative plaques on the wall in my craft room. Jackie Robinson, Don Drysdale and Willie Mays. They were and always will be the greatest players.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, friend

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. The Stick's still there

The 49ers use it. But now it's Monster Park, for monster.com.

I've worn my Blue to Giants-Dodger games there. Only thing that ever happened was one time some drunk guys sitting behind us threw ice at me.

First game I went to — 1965, it was — Mays hit two homers.

[Carla in Ca]

35. Wow, I thought they tore it down

I assume it got renovated, it was a little run down as I remember. I'm glad it still gets used. I can only hope the Coliseum or Dodger Stadium are never touched except for minor upgrades. Not to sound partial, but Dodger Stadium is still, IMHO, the most beautiful park there is. Atop a tree-covered hill with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. After 40+ years, it is still an awesome place to go.

We are lucky to have such memories. I'd love to see the new Giants stadium. It looks grand on TV.

[bigwillq]

20. Happy Birthday!

This is a very good thread. Enjoy the day! :hi:

[JitterbugPerfume]

21. fairy tales can come true

it can happen to you , if you're young at heart



and it's hard


you will find , to be narrow of mind, if you're young at heart


and if you should survive til a hundred and five


think of all you'll derive , out of being alive


and here is the best part


you'll have a head start


if you are among the very young at heart





BESIDES you are still a kid from my POV (I am 65)---and still young at heart dammit

[trof]

23. Damn. I thought you were about 35.

You sure write young.
;-)

[JitterbugPerfume]

24. flattery will get you

------- uhhh anywhereO8)

[wain]

22. How old is old, keeps receding with age

Such a nice way to think about your half century by reflecting upon treasured moments with you dad. Being young or old is a mixture of physical health and spiritual disposition. If blessed with good health, then we can be as young as we think we are.

As life expectancy increases, just think, at 50 you might have another 40 or so years ahead of you. What's fascinating is that there is time to plan out a whole new life. Life doesn't need to begin winding down at the "old" age of 50.

Happy birthday, many happy returns.

:party: :hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. Happiest of Birthdays, Oeditpus Rex!

May they always be so. :hug:

[AussieDave]

28. I turned 50 three weeks ago

To me it was scarier than turning 40 or even 35. Fifty is such a milestone (to me, anyway) but I've always been of the mindset that life is a journey, and turning fifty is just one more Burma Shave sign on the road.

As for my Dad, well I'm lucky to still have him around. I go and see them every weekend (they live five minutes down the road) and we give each other haircuts every so often. He's 81 and still gets around just fine though he's slowing down a bit nowadays. That's the hardest thing to watch - one's parents aging and seeing the little things about them changing, and not for the better.

We just take care of them and cherish and love them while we can.:grouphug:

[southlandshari]

29. Old souls who are young at heart

are my favorite kind of people, rare as they are.

Happy birthday to one I am so blessed to call my friend!

:hug:

[leftofthedial]

31. time for an odometer adjustment dude!

[Oeditpus Rex]

32. I shoulda done that last summer

When I had better access.

[leftofthedial]

33. my time went so quickly

I went lickety splickly

[brook]

34. A lovely tribute to your dad.

Such good memories and a fitting day to think on them. :party: Happy 50th. :toast:

My daughter turns 50 in about 2 weeks...that'll give an idea of what an old bag I am!

"50" was my best birthday. I marked my 'dues' card Paid -and :) I been raising hell ever since.

[Dangerously Amused]

36. 50!? Get. Out.

Dude, I had no idea. You certainly don't look 50. And your attitude is much younger as well, refreshingly so. You inspire me. :hug:

And thanks for the sweet memories of your Dad. What a wonderful son he raised. :hug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

37. 4.4.56

Says so right here on my Mattel Junior G-Man ID.

How old did you think I am? :shrug:









And does this mean you don't me no more? :cry:

[Dangerously Amused]

38. I had you down for 43-ish.

It's a good thing.


And NO, I will never stop ((( ))) you. If anything, now I just ((( ))) you more!


You sultry charmer, you.

[Oeditpus Rex]

40. Day-um!

I oughta start doin' some aerobics or somethin', huh? :blush:

[Dangerously Amused]

41. Nah. I'll go easy on you.

At first.

[Oeditpus Rex]

42. Thank you

I guess we can work up to... it.

[Heidi]

49. See?????

I'm not the _only_ one. :P

[WritingIsMyReligion]

39. My mom will be 51 this August.

She ain't old. Well, not really. :D :D

Happy b-day, Rex.

:loveya:

Kid

[Heidi]

43. All this time,

I thought you were my age or younger. :shrug:

[Robeson]

44. My wife will be 50 this July. She has a great attitude...

...she says she's looking forward to being "Fabulous at 50"!

[u4ic]

46. What a lovely piece, O_R

Sounds like he was a great one.

I couldn't write anything similar about turning 40, as my parents were older when I arrived.

I did forget to give you your birthday present:



Just_in_case...

[Oeditpus Rex]

47. Hell, I coulda used those

15 years ago. :blush:

[u4ic]

48. I didn't know you then...

:shrug:

I feel very strongly about appropriate gifts...I'll take back the memory mints and re-gift you...



Guys always seem to want socks and underwear, anyway...:eyes:

[Oeditpus Rex]

51. I am offended by your replacement gift

"Large." Hmmph.




Honey, do these adult incontinence pants make my ass look big?

[u4ic]

52. I thought I was giving you a compliment...

not only does it have to fit your ass, but the *ahem* opposite side...;)

[rustydog]

50. Next month I'm 52...I can still shoot hoops with 20-somethings

[edbermac]

53. Mine's coming up in a few weeks...

GAWD!! :cry: