I was watching a documentary the other day called The Other F Word. It’s about punk rockers who are now also fathers and have had to learn how to balance giving authority the middle finger while ensuring that their kids still respect bedtime. Another aspect it covered was of the musicians trying to keep their youthful appearances to varying degrees of success. In some cases this pursuit clearly stated as marketing. But, in others, it was just sad. As the Real McKenzies put it, “A punk musician just ain’t as cute at 53.”
Like everybody else, I don’t consider myself old and I am fully aware that the second I do someone older will jump my shit and tell me I’m not old. (Doing this is an old person’s favorite thing right before Luby’s becomes their favorite thing.) So, no, I’m not old. But I’m definitely getting gray. I know this because the young lady that cuts my hair likes to point it out along with other really specific flaws in my face whenever I see her. But, I can’t do the Just For Men thing so I’m going to own it.
Being 40-soemthing comes with its fair share of problems. Health becomes a real thing you gotta pay attention to. There’s a real sense of mortality as Death approaches ever nearer and starts getting to know people in your circle of friends.My pop-culture references are dated. And then there are the kids. I’ve got a teenager now and I’m still trying to find that balance between being a parent and being a person.
But I like this age. I like that most marketing dollars are now directed at me. I like that people my age are making the decisions on what movies get green lit. I like being called Sir. I don’t like that Big Pharma thinks I have ED but I like not being carded. And I’m going to revel in it. And a big part of reveling in it is talking about it a lot more.
So, that’s what I’m going to do. Graying Matter will be a part of my newsletter and I’m going to try to send something out every week. It will be about parenting, movies my kids will never love, the vicious evil network of mayhem, hobbies, pain medicine preferences, music. Look, I don’t really know what it’s going to be about. It will be about a lot of stuff. For example the first one I’ve written is about playing Dungeons and Dragons with my kids for the first time. We start there and see where it goes.
But it’s definitely coming so sign up if you haven’t already. We can all be older together.