31. Happy to Be Around

Turning forty-five means I have been on this earth as it completes forty-five revolutions around the sun. If we count the nine months that I was in my mother's womb, that makes it forty five and three-fourths times. If, by the grace of God, I live up to the age of ninety, forty-five means I'm in the third quarter of my life. In basketball, the third quarter usually decides the outcome of the game. It is when the dominant team builds the twenty-point lead, or when the underdog, which has been lagging the first half, gets back in the game. It's when the coaches decide to adjust the game plan, or anticipate the adjustment of the opposing coaches for the win. So what will it be in the third quarter of life? Einstein debated with Neils Bohr on quantum mechanics at this time. Hemingway wrote the Old Man and the Sea. Rachmaninoff composed Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Karol Josef Wojtyla became a Cardinal. Picasso painted the massive Guernica. And Churchill rose from Secretary of War to Prime Minister. It is indeed the time to be alive, the period when experience tames reckless passion,  when discipline meets energy, the time when we slay the dragons of our quest and find our treasures in the cave. This only means I'm far away from being done. To everyone who has greeted me today, thank you for your kindness. I'm happy to be around and even happier to finish this game.