Lines on Sixty

Lines on Sixty

 

Saturday the 23^rd has been my 60^th birthday.

Some time when I was a kid, maybe a early teenager, I came up with the idea of "seasons of life". I assume I must've seen it somewhere, because other people have proposed this same model. The idea is that when you're a child it is spring, when you're mature it's summer. In your middle age it's fall, and then as an older person it is winter.  

 

 

 My spring lasted until my 20th birthday and it was a pretty good childhood. It was a time of growth and discovery. I was a little bit shy and bookish, but well liked in general. There were ups and downs, as there must be in any springtime, but I think overall the good outweighed the bad.

 

 

 

  

Summer came with my 20th birthday, and while it started well, those 20 years incorporated some of the worst times of my life. 1985 through 1996 were very trying, with family and friend turmoil, legendarily bad jobs, and a relationship that redefined the word terrible. It was a long hot summer for this child. Things started improving, and the end of the summer saw me embark on a new path with a new career

 

 

 Then came the autumn, which has always been my favorite season anyway… What an amazing season it has been! Friendships so deep and meaningful, I could've never even imagined them. Relationships full of laughter, passion, and joy. A few wonderful trips. My entire career at e2, say what you will, I had a good time on that little website, even getting published in a real book, and self-publishing my Encyclopedia of Beings.

I even got to try my hand at being "dad" for a while for two amazing lads. My eight years with Heidi and her sons will always be a highlight of my time on this planet. We were together a lot: owning our own company and this little family unit we created.

In Richardson, the Eberhard-Johnson household has mellowed and strengthened until life is unimaginable without it. Ours is a home of 1000 small joys.

I've played some of the best D&D of my entire career as a dungeon master in the last 10 years, even garnering rounds of applause from my players a few times.

Maybe I've even touched a few lives, made a few individuals’ existences a little better… What more could a man ask for?

 

So winter is incipient, and while some might think that is bleak, for me winter is a time of quiet contemplation. Sitting by the fire side, looking at the snow-covered hills, sipping a big mug of hot tea. What could possibly be cozier than that?

I look forward to the next 20 years. My plans? Drink lots of tea. Continue to enjoy the best career I could imagine. Watch Bear and Noah blossom into adulthood. Lots more karaoke! . Plenty of dungeons and, needless to say, dragons as well. More travel. Tons of time with Wolfie. Learn. Love my life and my friends, enjoy a million laughs with them. A wonderful and cozy winter for a great lifetime.

And hey, if I make it to 80, spring starts over again!