The Mid-30's Blog

I had surreal experience the other day. There I was, driving down the road toward the Marietta Square, when something caught my eye. It was one of those promotional signs people put in their yards in support of an election candidate. Not unusual, except that I recognized the name. Not from commercials or the newspaper [I mean, let's face it, I don't exactly keep my finger on the pulse of local politics]. But from middle school.

That's right, someone I went to middle school with is running for state public office. [Obviously my inclusion of the link is not an endorsement of this person, unless you want to base your voting decisions on my very scattered memories from Mrs. Perenic's homeroom.]

It's kind of weird to see someone who I remember primarily as a quiet, lanky baseball player from middle school (and if memory serves, the BFF of a guy who I had a painfully hopeless crush on throughout 7th grade) as a grown-up, full-fledged candidate for state court judge. What?

No, no, judges are old -- certainly those with enough clout and experience to be running for state office. I mean, you couldn't reasonably expect to be at that point in your career until at least....

Thirty five.

And then it hits me. Again. I'm turning thirty-five this year, along with my peers. And I'd already acknowledged that I'm officially "baseball old," but this is sort of a new threshold into beginning middle age. Some kid who I sat near during sex ed and US History now has his name on signs in perfectly respectable front yards in very established Marietta, Georgia.

It does sort of make me pause and wonder about where I am as I approach 35, and where I thought I'd be, and so on. It's actually hard to wrap my head around it, mostly because I don't really feel "grown up" yet, much less like my life could be almost half over (based on the averages). Seventh grade doesn't seem all that long ago, and yet, here we are...

Of course I believe that age is just a number, that our potential is largely the same at 35 and 45 as it was at 25, and maybe even 15. But I also think it's important to stop and take stock once in a while and see if we're living the lives we want, every day. Have I achieved what I wanted? If not, why not? Am I the kind of person that the 15 year old me and the 75 year old me would both be proud of? What do I want to do differently between now and 40? Or 80?

Sometimes it takes something to get our attention and force us to pause and evaluate the path of our lives -- like a milestone birthday. Or a sign on the side of the road....