Life on the downhill slope...

So what's that all about?

On this side of 50, most thinking people realize that they've lived MORE of their life than they have left. It's the other "side" of life. Not worse necessarily, maybe better, but definitely different than when one is 25 and looking forward to a long and hopefully, healthy life.

This is a place for me to "think out loud" about the ramifications of the latter half of my life and what I do with it. John Bunyan, the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress" espoused an idea of "dying well". Even though I look forward to many more years on this earth, I think I now know what he meant, whereas 25 years ago it would have gone right over my head.

My kids are gone. Well that's not quite true, as my daughter has moved back in with us to attend graduate school. My career is at it's peak. I'm at an age (52) where if I were to lose my job, it would be very difficult to replace my salary. Age discrimination is a very real thing. Let's hopefully not go down that road.

That said, I really don't intend to ever stop working. Retire from my current job of course; when, I don't know. But as a professional designer, I hope to always be able to either do freelance work or something else. Earlier in my career, my profession defined who I was. These days I'm looking for a different definition: Husband, father, friend, disciple of Christ. I hope that my life counts for more than the 8 to 5 grind and a gold watch and then the slow strangulation of retirement. Too many people retire to die. I want to retire to live.

And that, Charlie Brown, is what it's all about.