Now I Get It

One day around my 30th birthday I felt inclined to pop in a Pretenders CD. There wasn't any song inparticular I wanted to hear, I was just in the mood for The Pretenders and hadn't listened to them in what seemed like forever. There I was, doing stuff around the house gettin my groove on with Chrissie & the boys, when Middle Of The Road came on. I started boppin and singing the words. It was as I was singing the song that I suddenly felt like I was hearing it for the first time.

The words became real. It was at that moment that I realized I was going to be 30. 30. There I was standing in the middle of my life with my pains behind me. It was a little strange to suddenly have this song that never really meant anything to me, all of a sudden pin point exactly the place I was at in life at that moment. 

I played the song probably a dozen more times. Though it made the realization that I was going to be 30 hit home to me, which kind of freaked me out, it also made me feel pretty good about not being in my twenties anymore. Kind of wise, kind of cool, and frankly a little tough.

So now, whenever I catch a few gray hairs on my head, get annoyed with teenagers these days, or anything else that reminds me that I'm in the middle of that road, I simply hum this tune to myself. It always helps me put life into perspective.

"Don't harass me kid, Can't you tell I'm going home, I'm tired as hell,
I'm not the cat I used to be, I've got a kid, I'm thirty-three baby.
Get in the road. Come on now, In the middle of the road"