Posted on 10/28/2005 8:20:07 PM PDT by RightOnline
No big deal to hardly anyone but me, but today.....ol' RightOnline turned the Big Five-Oh. The Half Century Club. Halfway to centenarian and greetings from the fat guy on the Today Show......
I just thought I would take a few moments, after a thoroughly wonderful day, to share a few things I've picked up or things I've reflected on today with my beloved fellow FReepers (and you ARE just that, beloved ......well, as a group....some of ya.....well.....)
1. Whatever 50 is supposed to feel like, I don't feel it. I lift weights 5 days a week and am in better shape than when I was 25. So there.
2. No gray hairs.....nary a one. I feel cheated. I've earned plenty.
3. Nothing.......absolutely, nothing......is more important than your family. My lovely wife of nearly 28 years who has put up with me all these years and still looks 20 years younger than she is, my seven children who have ALL made me proud (ranging from a 26-year-old 2nd Lt. in the Army leading a Stryker platoon to a 4-year-old hooked on Spiderman and Batman). Cherish them, people, and keep them close.
4. Republicans don't have a corner on morality or good ideas or decency or common sense. It's merely that Democrats lack all of the above.
5. I've been playing rock guitar since I was not quite 14. Production and marketing have moved ahead rapidly since the late '60's music industry, but today's music that passes for "rock" largely sucks. I'd take "Live at the Fillmore East" to anything that has been released in the last 15 years.
6. Have a job? Great. Keep it and do the best you possibly can at all times. Have a career? Even better.......just make damned sure you enjoy it. Aim to work for yourself, but plan for it like you've never planned for anything in your life.
7. The most fun I ever had professionally was when I was flying for Uncle Sam (I'm an AF Academy grad). The responsibilities I had as a pilot in the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War have been unequalled in all the intervening years. I don't say this out of regret or a sense of loss; I say it from a sense of pride and to encourage young people to seriously consider the military in their younger years. It'll help you tremendously.
8. Don't number your close friends in the dozens. That's disingenuous. Number them in a small handful and keep them very close, no matter how far away they live.
9. Don't try to keep up with the Jones'. The Jones' are idiots. Set your own goals, care what YOU think, and live well within your means.
10. Love your God and His Son and try your best to live for 'em. You'll fall short as we all do (you wouldn't believe what my church puts up with from me). I WILL say that Jesus took a bullet for me, and I'll never, ever forget it. He'll get my best.......for life. I hope you feel the same.
I've been on this Forum for seven years now, and it's better, more vibrant, more interesting (if a tad less cerebral....no complaint there) than it has ever been. God bless all of you, God bless your families, and let's continue to have fun kicking Lib behind on a regular basis. See ya over the next 50......
Honey, check out a fellow philisophical, SAC-trained killer who's fit and just turned fifty. You two should talk :-)
..and YOU, young lady, are a total sweetheart. Pity to those on this Forum who don't know or appreciate that fact.
No, it is NOT; full thick head of hair.
He looks about 40, if that. Disgustingly spry!
50 with a 4 year old? Obviously you and your wife feel young, Happy Birthday!
Young lady?
No matter how buff you are, you're mind is going, pal......LOL.
Hey you.....see my point #8 above. You're in that category. Love ya, bud. Keep kickin' butt out there.
Happy Birthday bud!
They say memory is the first thing to go..............................I can't remember the second thing.
See ... I was born Feb. 29th, 1948 ... so I'm either almost 58 or just past 14.
I don't remember ever being 50, but I DO remember being $49.95.
Go get 'em, tiger.
Happy birthday, and thanks for the sage words.
Happy Birthday Day to you ---
Happy Birthday Day to you.
Happy Birthday dear R-O-L--LL ---
Happy Birthday to you!!!!
At least you were born in the last half of the last century. Some of us were born in the FIRST half of the last century!!
Now doesn't that make you feel good?
I am 48 and still counting..and what you said is true...have fun in what you do..do what you want to do..do it well..do it right...and have some laughs along the way..the tears you forget...
We share the same birthday, along with Jonas Salk & Bill Gates. Happy Birthday. :-)
Happy Birthday!
I turned 50 this year as well! It isn't as bad as I thought it would be.
And 'ditto' to all that you posted!
Blessings,
sneakers
A key point I should have made and heavily emphasized. Well put. KEEP that sense of humor at all times, through all things. It'll keep you sane.
I lift weights 5 days a week and am in better shape than when I was 25
yeah, sure. ;)
really cool post.
Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations and happy birthday! But when I put up my vanity about turning 62, all I got was "You ought to be GLAD! 62 is nothing!" This, from 35-and-40-year-olds who'd never hear anything creak but the bed or the bathroom door. Enjoy! (Don't mind me...I just came in from stacking a cord of split firewood in 25-degree weather. I'm grouchy.)
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