What if this is as good as it gets?

Right now. At this stage in your life, is this as good as it gets? Or has that stage come and gone?

Think about it.

 

God, I hope not.

 

What if life gets way better?

Mine did.

 

I've honestly found that my life has gotten better with each year. At 52, I truly believe that I still haven't hit my 'peak'.

 

That's life.

 

I can't imagine thinking like that if you have kids...

I look forward to every aspect of watching them grow up, watching them go to college, watching them start their career (hopefully in something other than journalism...) and their weddings and grandkids etc...

There are always things you have to work through... I just can't imagine having that cryptic of an outlook on life...

 

Yeah, I don't ever want to think about "a peak" because then, the perception is that it's downhill from there... It's never that simple... It's a long road with plenty of bumps along the way, it's not a climb and a fall...

 

It doesn't necessarily get better or worse. It just continues to get ... different. It's funny to see this thread, because I was thinking last night on the drive home from going to a game with some guys back to our college days and how footloose and fancy free we are. And I actually pondered: "Were things better then, even though we get nostalgic for those days?" And the answer was a resounding no. And neither were they worse. They were better in some ways, but worse in other ways. When I got home last night, my 3-year-old sprinted to the door and hugged me, then jumped up and down when I gave him a little football that I had promised when I hit the door in the morning. When I got home in college, I played "Madden." You tell me which is better.*

* And this is with a couple of the guys giving me 10 forms of shit for having responsibilities. Of course, that was in one breathe. In the next, they'd acknowledge some envy. Like Mizzou eloquently expressed, there's always something new to keep life interesting, especially after kids. There are moments of my life that I recall being, to quote the OP, about "as good as it gets." But five or 10 years from now, some of them will come from this week. You kind of just don't know, in the moment, that those times have arrived. But rest assured, they do keep coming.

 

We tend to romanticize our past or our youth, especially our college experiences. But when I really think about it, I wasn't always carefree and content then, either. I did and didn't do some regrettable things. When I get in that wistful state of mind, I ask myself if I could go back now and do it again, would I? Could I go back and live in my college town and fall into the same circles and experience the same things I did as a wide-eyed freshman, for example? Of course not. There is no going back to redo or recreate anything. So why even bother wishing you could? While I've lost some off my fastball, and maybe I'm a little less fit, more domesticated, not as adventurous, I feel like I have plenty to look forward to and a lot of life left to live. And it will be good, because I'll make sure that I appreciate what I am able to do.

"Man, I wish I could play Little League now. I'd kick some ass." - Mitch Hedburg

 

I feel like I'm still adventurous, just in different ways. Now, it's not stealing the composite out of the TKE common room. It's taking on the films of a challenging director. Now, it's not streaking across the campus mall without getting caught. It's challenging myself to understand the Hicks-Boson news story. Or the subtle differences between the Republican and Democratic platforms. Or dedicating myself as a parent to laying the foundation so that my children will be able to 20 years from now.

 

Life sucks, it's the truth, I mean, didn't you think it would be better than this?

 

Might want to start with the name.

(Just yankin' your chain, obviously. Fantastic post on a great thread.)