I've decided that turning 50 is like a batting slump. Either you step up to the plate and swing like you're swinging at potato chips and give up in disgust and walk away; or, tweak your stance just a bit, get that elbow up, keep the bat off your shoulder, anchor that back foot, pivot your hips, keep your head straight then swing away, you're going to hit one out of the park.
I've been in a serious slump. I can't write (except for this blog or whatever you want to call it) and I make up a thousand reasons for same. Is there really such a thing as writer's block or is it that single parents like me who spend the days, weeks, years struggling and struggling and getting absolutely nowhere and certainly not ahead and wonder why people like my ex husband are such douchebags for parents because alcohol is better lure than his own son's smile or hug. In my famous words said in my best Jim Carrey voice: Lew eww eww eww zer.
So what about me? Ha, another song comes to mind. It's isn't fair, I've had enough now I want my share can't you see? Some one hit wonder from way back when. But this is what's it's like. Yes, I understand I've made my own choices and decisions albeit some pretty stupid ones lacking common sense and foresight and all of those things that make you go hmmmmmm BEFORE you make a choice or a decision but sadly, I can't take anything back, can't change the past and I can't change anyone in my life who's done wrong by me.
But really, 50? WTF? Five decades or half a century. I know i am harping on this but I don't care because I am sure there are many other people out there who feel the same as I and ask themselves the same question:
What have I done the first 50 years of my life?
Well, let's see. I graduated from high school with serious A's, I went to play baseball with the Boston Red Sox and members of the '67 and '75 World Series teams - I got to PITCH in a real game so that was one thing I checked off my bucket list. I graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern University, and have had the same job for nearly 10 years and the BEST boss in the universe, I have an absolutely amazing kid, a roof over my head, and a Mom who keeps Hallmark in business because she picks out the best birthday cards for me each year.
But what I have contributed to saving the planet or the whales or the kakapo ? What have I done that people say hey, PAULA did that!
Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Sure, I've coached Little League and wrote hundreds and hundreds of baseball stories and news stories and all that. And I probably could probably rent a bus and run over the property manager at a certain "ghetto" in a certain town because she's just plain evil and a bully and all the nasty things that people cough up, the things that wash up on shore after a wicked bad storm, and the snot that people hack and spit onto the ground. That's Alison Morneault. She makes Freddy Kreuger look like Mr. Rogers.
But then I'd go to jail and she is so not worth even blinking an eye for. So THAT's out of the question.
But what have I done that has permanently put a stamp on something with my name on it and classified as a seriously amazing accomplishment?
Nothing. Well, so far I've done OK raising my son by myself (I think) and I know that's a HUGE accomplishment but I'm talking something bigger and deeper and soul-searching success.
Nothing.
Yet.
It's never too late to be what you might have been.
Instead of trying to figure out the most painless way I can stick an icepick in my brain and die with dignity tomorrow, I should be reciting the single most important line from the movie "Shawshank Redemption:"
Get busy living' or get busy dyin'.
. I could wake up dead tomorrow but then I'd be extra pissed.
Fuck it. Bring on 50.
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