Friday, March 25, 2011

on ramps and mile markers


April is what I could call a month of new beginnings, or maybe anniversaries. April 5th marked 18 years at my present job, Whirlpool. For this milestone I now get 4 weeks vacation each year, when I reach my 25th year I will get a fifth week -- a mile marker I'm hoping not to see. So what did I do with this extra week? I used it last week to celebrate another mile marker in life -- turning 50. I was not working on my 18th anniversary at "the pool" but I'm sure there were no parties or special ceremonies.

So what about turning 50? It was great! And as one would expect from me the plans were great. One of the problems with great plans is finding time to work them out and trying to stick with them. Not long after turning 40 I began thinking about 50. Way back when I had thoughts of how much money I could save by the time I reached 50 just by putting back a few bucks a week. I thought "rent a custom tour bus" load up some close friends and hit the road, Nashville and Smokey Mountains. The trip would be one big party, the bus would pull up people would be gawking, we'd all go off and into the hotel. Time marches on but the bus never showed. Then as 50 drew closer, I had another idea. Get some friends together, fly into Frankfurt Germany with passports, credit card and a backpack and see where we wound up. Time marched on again. Then I thought maybe just go to Hawaii (thanks Gwen) and time just kept marching....

So what finally happened? Well I did take the week off, and the more I thought I realized it was not so much about what to do as it was about just being with family and friends. So in the interest of not keeping anyone away because of cost or distance I planned a party at the church and also invited some friends and family to jam after everyone had time to eat. A couple drove from Michigan, some from Columbus, some I'd not seen in 25 years. This was the Saturday before so what did I do with the rest of the week? Stayed up late slept late. Mostly I spent a lot of time just sort of contemplating life. After dinner at Smoky Bones with the Womeldorf family followed with a few hours of "looking at picture albums" I realized the the best part of turning 50 was the 49 years it took to get there......