Why is it that, as we get older, the years pass by faster and faster?
I remember a very reasonable explanation though I cannot, for the life of me, remember who gave it. I think it was Dean Hilde Iñigo but I am uncertain.
When you are two (2) years old, one (1) year is half of your life so it is still a large part of it. However, as you grow older, each year that passes by is a smaller and smaller fraction of your entire life. This is why each passing year seems to get shorter and shorter.
I am turning fifty (50) on Sunday, February 23, 2020 so, the following year will just be one-fiftieth (1/50) of the life I have lived so far but it is, nonetheless, an important year for me.
“How does it feel to be turning fifty?” is the question that everyone seems to always ask. Let me put it this way, I cannot deny that I am getting old because my body keeps on reminding me.
Every time that I have to reach for my glasses to read something, or when I have to rub that familiar knot at the small of my back when I have been at my desk too long or when I wonder why the hell does it take an entire day for me to lose a hangover, my body is asking me if I can honestly say “I Feel Fabulous at Fifty!” with a straight face.
Do I feel that I am already old? I would be in a complete state of denial if I say that I still feel like I did in my twenties. The fact is that I cannot remember what my abs look like anymore.
My eyebrows twitch whenever I hear people say “You should have seen me then” so I try my best to stop myself from saying it but I have to admit giving in, from time to time, to the temptation of showing my pictures when I did not have to bend down to see my feet.
However, I can honestly say that I feel much better now than when I was in my early forties when I was at the height of suffering from gouty arthritis.
Then, it was a common sight in the College of Law to see me being wheeled on a computer chair by the law school staff from the building door to my classroom. In the descriptive words of Judge Antonio P. Laolao “Kanang Sideview Mulakaw”
Nowadays, at least, I can actually walk up and down stairs and not have to do it sideways one foot, and one step, at a time. It must have been really bad before, because people still keep telling me that they are amazed to see me walking straight.
Do I see myself as already old? Here is where I must give in to denial.
I believe that a person begins to be old when he spends more time looking back at the life lived than forward to the life still to come and I am still looking forward. I am certainly not done yet.
The truth is that I am at that stage in life when I am already enjoying the fruits of my efforts in the years past. I no longer feel like I have something to prove. I may, of course, be wrong, but I honestly believe that I have already earned the respect of my peers and the loyal friendship and unquestioning trust of those I have worked with over the years and even of those I have crossed legal swords with in court.
While, as I said, I am far from being done, I do already enjoy some sense of fulfillment and contentment. I have a good legal practice, a beautiful wife, Marlyn, and three amazing children, Micmic, Ana and Jiggy, and one rascally dog, who all share the same crazy sense of humor that I have (Yes, even Chewie, our dog), and I do believe that I still have a long time to enjoy my life.
This must be the correct and honest answer to that question.
How does it feel to be turning fifty? I AM GOLDEN!
