50 years in the making.

I tuned 50 and suddenly the distance between great sex had gone from six days, to six weeks. I turned fifty and my eyesight had quietly faded, something I only realised when I failed the eyesight test when transferring my license from Maryland to Virginia. ( I should point out the woman administering the test was indignant about the fact that I couldn’t read the night time bottom row on the machine rather than the fact that I was apparently going blind) I had to drive with a limited license until I got glasses. How embarrassing. 

Daughter: "Daddy can we go to the mall tonight?"

Me: "Mommy will have to drive I can only drive in the day time." :(

I turned 50 and I was suddenly accused of having selective hearing, something that was brought on from eight years of firing a rifle while in the Army.

But the most unnerving thing about turning fifty in todays world though, is that how the world had changed. It has almost changed overnight and either the 50 something generation has embraced it or feel like they have been left out in the cold, confused and adrift. The industrial era high point, was in fact a lot longer ago than we realise, in fact, I left school in 1971 and factories were already closing down then. It seems like we turned 50 and at half time the rules of the game and the referee changed, but the playing field seemed to stay the same. (This was not the case) This, along with the advice of politicians, business leaders and well meaning family and friends changed while we were busy with our heads down and working hard, but we failed to see the warning signs.

Have all the skills that were so hard won just disappeared or are they transferable? Has the process of moving from the Industrial Era to one of Service and Technology really left us behind or are so many of my generation just unwilling to let the past go and move on, learn something new and rise to the occasion? There was a time when television and radio were the new technology. Maybe the speed in which they moved was just a little slower then.

The question is and should be; what do we do with the experience we have and the skills we have acquired? How do we transfer those skills into a useful tradable currency? Well the truth is that not much has changed at all. We still need a place to live and food to eat, clothes to wear and something to keep us occupied. We still have family and friends who are and should be the most important thing in our lives and the largest tradable currency is still relationships. Factories and manufacturing may have disappeared but the skills needed to succeed in them have not changed. No matter where we are and what we are doing for the most part we need to have a relationship with someone else in order to achieve our goals.

I think the reason for the distance in great sex, is due to the way we feel about ourselves and not the age that we are at.