Age Is A Number

This week I've been in school. Although it's been years since I put on a new pair of blue jeans, gathered my new #2 pencils and notebook and boarded the school bus, there was still a bit of that old back-to-school angst as I stepped into this school. This school has been for certification to administer a personality inventory.

A couple of years ago I mentioned to my Amazing-Missus that I thought maybe I was going through Mid-Life Crisis. She said, "Don't flatter yourself, you're way past mid-life." She keeps me real.

Well today I learned that, at least to according to the Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, that Mid-Life is a stage of life and not a particular age. After all age is just a state of mind right?

Satchel Paige

Don't believe it? Then how would you answer this question:

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

This is a quote from the great Satchel Paige. As a kid, I loved listening to baseball games on the radio. I am old enough to remember Satchel playing for the Cleveland Indians. He came to the Big Leagues from the Negro Leagues when he was 42, making him the oldest rookie to ever play on a major league team.

Well back to his question. It's a good one right?

As I've tried to explain to people what I'm trying to do with this blog I explain that it is sort of therapy for me as I go through what I've come to call my Second-Coming of Age.

I also learned today that according to Jung, the second coming of age is a healthy life stage of sorts and that in this stage I can focus on some traits I have that have always been there but sort of in the background. Who knows maybe I'll be braver, bolder, more like Hemingway without the desire to beat people up. Maybe I'll be more interesting and less cynical. Maybe I'll be the same old phart, but it's sort of fun to imagine.