I think nothing humbles a man more than getting older. I don't mind moving to 50. Kinda cool getting discounts - but no one asks anymore - they just assume I am. As a young boy, I was small - not impressive in size. By 18, I had grown some - but nothing impressive. I married @ 23 - she was impressed by my size - but then again she was a size 0. 2 short months later, I joined the U.S. Army. 3 plus years later, when I left the Army, a different kind of guy came back to Alabama. I knew NO fear, I had NO concerns about anyone. I was not big, but I was a force and I knew it.
Confidence like that will get you killed a Drill Sgt once told me. I did not listen much to that. Not much you can tell a 26 year old warrior - who a year later added an MBA to his resume. Another wise man - a Fortune 100 exec - whom I worked for - would ask me in 1989 "What you can tell a 28 year old MBA?" Before I could answer - he did and very bluntly said "Not much". I suppose that was true then and perhaps is still true today.
When I recently turned 50, within 3 short weeks, I had seen more Dr. and Dentists and such than I had my entire life. What I learned is that I am in really good shape - for 50. I am, however, not 30 anymore though and I have got to understand that. Oh, I can still move around very well - can still push gravel uphill in a wheelbarrow, I can still bow cut a tree and throw a used dryer off my back deck when it quits working after 7 months. Frankly, I know it is all for show - for show that I still can (if only to me). It is hard to be humble about no longer being a warrior - since it took me almost 24 years to become one. Nowadays, I suppose I just act tough. There was a country song out a few years ago that went something like "when tough little guys grow up to dads - they become babies again". My two girls know that - and so does the one I have been married to for over 27 years.
Yep it is tough getting older and losing just a little of the fear I used to be able to strike when I needed (or wanted) to. Still, my 7 year old daughter can still boost my ego a little when she says "I don't want to lay on you - you are not soft like Mama." Which reminds me - I need to get her a new IPAD - just so she will remember to say that.
Warrior once? Yep - but now I am just a Dad...Be warned though when little Joey comes to the door - he will think Sun Tzu lives here...unless of course I am taking a nap....even warriors have to rest.
