Dear reader, if I can beg your indulgence for a little bit…
A “Life begins at 40” podcast and blog series. As I thought this up, I chuckled to myself. What hubris, to think that an unremarkable guy like myself might write or share a story folks are interested in. Ironically, it’s because of how unremarkable I am that I feel compelled to tell said story.
Because, there are just so many of us like me. I don’t use the adjective pejoratively by the way. It isn’t some attack on the self nor one that seeks to undermine my person. It’s just the word that I think best describes me. Like Jurgen Klopp (and this is where our similarities end) I’m the normal one. Just completely standard.
That said, perhaps what I can do is offer some context to why I have decided to embark on this journey.
Firstly, I’m obviously turning 40 this year. In fact, in six weeks I will be hitting the milestone, so I figure for posterity I could do a series that talks about the last 39 years of my life. Maybe talk about some interesting things that have happened. Share some anecdotes and maybe a little wisdom that I might have picked up along the way. There’s also this thing I’ve complained about for so long about how black people don’t write. We don’t document knowledge. This particular issue came to head when my father passed on having not written the memoir I’d been pestering him to write for three or four years. Along with the unyielding grief, I also carry a constant scowl regarding that specifically. To that end I figure, even the little knowledge and experience I have might mean something to someone in the future.
Life beginning at 40 has always seemed like a thing people who can’t believe they’re that age say to make themselves feel better about it. I don’t feel either way about turning 40 which is a hell of a thing considering I absolutely loathed turning 30! I just don’t feel 40. When I turned 38 my father took his final rest. His farewell party (we refuse to call it a funeral) was a day after my day of birth.
I’ll never forgive my birthday for that and carry a decent amount of resentment to the day and week for its part. My dad was a celebrations guy. Loved a party and was the life and soul thereof. So, him not being here to celebrate his own 80th, and now my 40th is the gut punch I absolutely did not need. But, “fail forward” as the grootman Mo Rally often laments, so, maybe I’ll party that week in spite of the ill feeling.
I think that the podcasts will be better than these blogs. Ostensibly because I’m funnier when I get a chance to speak. I don’t over think and generally let my mouth do its business. I’m a lot more mellow in my old age and have hugely reduced my use of expletives. I think I reason better too but unfortunately I’m still stubborn. I’m still pretty sure I’m right a lot of the time and for my sins I still use slang that only a few will understand. A quasi career in broadcasting hasn’t improved my language proficiency unfortunately but I’m charming enough that many miss these idiosyncrasies.
This is but an opening Salvo. Oh, but perhaps I can provide a bit of direction. The aim is to do podcasts with close friends and family. School friends from primary and high school. Varsity mates, as well as work friends and acquaintances from across the years. I’m not even really sure I have the requisite hardware for all this but as usual I’m going to fly off the seat of my pants and hope for the best. If you’re an old friend, please reach out for a chat. If you’re a new friend expect a call. If we’re well-acquainted then who knows…
I used to finish my first radio show “The Big Time” with these words “I am the fire, and I am out.”
