So today I turn 54.  That can’t be.  54 has always been decades away.  Now, 53 is in the rearview mirror.

A day like this makes me think of my father and mother.  And my own childhood.  Where I’ve come from and where I’m going.  While I’m no where near where I want to be in life, there is great news:  I start a new job on Monday.  I’ll be (there’s no actual title yet) Director of Marketing/Communications/Multi-Media/etc. at a medical trade association.  It seems as if I can run with the position as it’s newly created and I’ll have full reigns of it.  That’s very cool.  Major life change.  I’m pumped.

But more importantly, I’m 54.  I’m thinking that there’s a decreasing amount of time that I have to be what I want to be overall.  I’m thinking that there’s a certain finiteness in life that we don’t always recognize because we live in our present…a present which is often based upon a naive look on the future.

Then I think of the values that I grew up with…the people who were part of my younger years. I remember how they felt about me and how they shaped my worldview.

Many of them have passed on now.  They seemed like giants.  But in reality, they were middle aged adults.  And I’m forever thankful to them.

Today, I am a giant.