Turning 50

Well, it had to happen, if I just kept living long enough. On January 1st, 2009, while the somberly hungover and the smugly sober made resolutions and wondered were the hell 2008 went, I quietly turned fifty. I spent that gloomy day at my mother-in-laws, hacking, coughing, and experiencing the many and varied bodily entertainments that accompany a pre-Christmas bout of pneumonia that lasted into the new year, extending our stay an extra eight days.

Most birthdays are artificial road marks. Forty-eight was indistinguishable from forty-seven, twenty-five blurred into twenty six. But fifty is different. Fifty is a half-century. Half a hundred. Enough states to make up a huge country. Enough crayons that they need to name one "burnt umber."

I've been fifty for nine days and have no words of wisdom to impart on the subject.(Although it does seem that most people under 50 are full of shit.) Perhaps there isn't any wisdom to be had, but I have noticed something related to turning fifty. People aren't crazy about it, but organizations love it. Fiftieth anniversaries of events, companies, products, etc make the news, or should, if the self-promotion of the companies, products, and organizations is any evidence.

So, to give special purpose to my 50th year on Earth, I've decided to collect 50th anniversary notices - Here's to the class of '59!

(I started to google "50th anniversary," but changed my mind. This is a serendipitous list generated by whatever life throws my way. Feel free to make suggestions.)

Created in 1959

1. Me - What the hell, it's my list.
2. The Cuban Revolution - Castro 1, Batista/JFK 0
3. Motown Records - Hitsville hits the big Five-Oh
4. NASA - A decade to the moon, remember?
5. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe - They certainly do.
6. Hawaii and Alaska statehood - Obama and Palin are forever linked.
7. The Osmond Family - This is why I stopped googling "50th Anniversary".

That's it for now. Stay tuned for more 50th anniversary updates as I find them.