my 40s

When I turned 40 I wrote about all of the things that happened during my 30s.  It was a great way to look back on the decade.  So much happened; not the least of which was getting married and becoming a father.
As I turn 49 and look back over my 40s, there is arguably more that happened:

• became a father for the 4th time
• became an uncle 5 times
• ran a 1/2 marathon
• cycling
• rode 1000s of miles
• rode on the Indy 500 track
• started racing bikes
• wrecked my bike at 40mph and spent 18 months dealing with a single tiny broken bone
• stoped racing bikes
• had surgery 4 times for various sports related injuries
• started wearing bi-focals
• changed jobs a couple of times
• went to India
• was best man for my friend
• presented at a conference
• had multiple op-eds published
• became much more involved with the kids school
• became a scout leader
• became disillusioned  about the state of politics, then
• ran for office and learned a ton
• became an activist
• was offered a position on the board of a non-profit
• spoke at a protest
• knocked 1000s of doors for various causes
• became a precinct executive
• ran a voter registration drive
• marched in a bunch of parades
• started going to GenCon again
• started playing D&D with my kids
• sold a house and bought a new one
• went to Disney World twice
• got to give Chewbacca a bro-hug
• attended my 30 year high school reunion
• kids started moving from elementary school into their high school
• reconnected with a lot of old classmates and friends
• accepted that I need to deal with my depression and sought professional help

I think that’s a pretty impressive list and it doesn’t even represent everything.  There is still one year left in my 40s and I need to figure out what isn’t on my list...