Milestones.

No, not the restaurant.

(But if they want to give me free stuff, am I gonna stop 'em? Not at all.)

Houses, weddings, babies -- not necessarily in that order, of course, in this postmodern world of ours.

These are three things that people my age are really starting to accomplish.

More accurately:

These are things that peers my age are really starting to accomplish. These aren't only people of my age group, but people in similar situations: educated, employed, fairly firmly settled in the Big Smoke. If I'd stayed in rural southwestern Ontario, this would've passed me by a decade ago; people tend to do things earlier, for a host of reasons (and, houses don't cost a small fortune).

I mean, I started off great: two degrees and full-time employment before 23, car, apartment, a brief sojourn back into academia for grad school... but I was done that at 28.

But now I'm in my last month of 37, and... really, what else have I accomplished? Let's take stock.

• been a union rep for 9 years (and a de facto one for another) 
• been a department head for 9-ish years (can't remember exactly when I started)
• travelled to Europe a few times and seen some great things
• travelled to far-less-glamorous places and seen a lotta ball games
• become a moderator at Bless You Boys

All of those things, of course, are stuff that I can do, and have done, alone. And, far from me wanting you to bust out the world's smallest violin, let me assure you that I've had some pretty fantastic experiences: helping people out, providing leadership, eating fantastic French croissants, chatting up random Americans, and getting neck-deep in baseball nerdery.

But yeah. The three aforementioned milestones require, y'know, someone else. And, for the first time in my life, I'm actually starting to get a little antsy. I can only tell myself "oh, I'm young, plenty o' time" for so long before the world around me starts starts to say, "Look around you, buckaroo -- and get going."

* * * * *

For no good reason other than to share it, I found this delicious photo of a young Carole King, presumably sitting at a piano.

Oh my.