Life at 40
In early March this year I passed a so-called significant milestone – 40 years on this ball of mud, spinning around our reluctant sun (or at least it seems reluctant in this part of the world).
Here's the thing – I don't feel any different than I did at 20. I'm a bit heavier maybe, and my face has a few bumps here and there. The lines around my eyes betray a smile that still causes dimples to appear, and the tooth I broke in the playground discolors a little more with each year that passes.
I still feel the same though. I'm still the unsure kid that didn't have a proper girlfriend until he hit his 20s. I'm still the colossal nerd that (given the opportunity) will stay up all night tinkering with computers, playing video games, and watching cult movies. I'm still riding the mountain bike everywhere too.
Somewhere along the way – completely against expectations – I met somebody that liked me more than “as a friend”, and we went on countless adventures before paying it forward – adopting children, and amassing a small army of chickens and cats.
The kid who used to write software for fun late at night now finds himself commuting all over the country to teach fellow software developers (when not working on insanely complex projects for clients he can never talk about). I guess in the minds of his friends he evolved from Matthew Broderick into Professor Falcon.
Friends. At 20 I had few friends, but through work and children I now have more than I can count. We stand together at the side of sports pitches, get drunk together while eating pizza, and laugh into the early hours while huddled around barbecues. We prop each other up, help each other, and ask after each other. For the kid that had few friends growing up, finding himself at the center of a noisy crowd has been the biggest surprise.
We can't leave out the internet either. For the shy kid, the internet was a huge escape – and still is. It brought friends from all over the world – it even crashed him into the girl that he would one day marry. Years ago it would have been unthinkable to count people among your friends that you will never meet among the same circle as those you see every day... and yet it has become normal.
Where am I going with this? Maybe back to the start. I haven't really changed. I doubt I ever will. I can still beat the children at video games, still laugh at idiotic jokes, still look twice at beautiful girls, and still eat too much chocolate.