Several years ago, Jennifer and I were filling out our waiver forms to raft the Truckee River up in Tahoe City. Mind you, Jennifer is older than me by three days only. On the form, the age she wrote was “38” – which was not our correct age at the time. I asked her why she wrote down this erroneous age (figuring coming from the acting world, she is highly sensitive about her age). She said simply, “they don’t need to know what our age is.” So I filled out my form with “38” and said, “I’m sticking at 38 too!”
The funny thing is, that number “38” got locked in my head. I just stopped counting. Every once in a while I’d have to fill out a form and calculate my age from my birth year (yeah, I’d actually have to write down 2012-19xx) and as dumbass as this sounds, I’d always be surprised. It wasn’t until this year, when I was signing up for my first 5K that I had to sign up in an age bracket. Looking at the true two digits, in print, in that age bracket, well, when you stick at 38, I was momentarily stunned. How did that happen? The good thing about the “real” number in this scenario, is that I was in the lower end of my bracket, so figured I might just be a bit more competitive.
The power of 38 means that you are as young, as sexy, as courageous, as strong, as funny as you perceive yourself to be. Getting older doesn’t “suck” – each day that passes is a day to rejoice all that we have, all those blessings that have come our way, all the opportunities that we had on this very day to laugh, to be amused at the world. The power of 38 is about discovering our own personal bests, to be authentic, the power to wear sleeveless shirts despite angel wings at any age. WTF cares but us? Power, baby. Power to perceive things in a positive way.
Welcome to the power of 38.
Chris
I have read it all. Even though I have read most of it before. Good for you! Seems the challenge will be to keep writing regularly – that’s the difficulty I had maintaining my travel blog. When I stopped traveling for a while, I lost my momentum. You are strong. You are talented. You will do it.
Yeah, I’m trying to write on a schedule. I can think about it all the time, but that’s not going to get my anywhere. Thanks Toby, you are a great inspiration.