I had a quartz life crisis before it was a trend. In my twenties I did the work to clean up the mess I had done: sold my car, got a new job, found a therapist, drove my parent’s minivan for a day (fortunately the transfer went out) and found a new place to live, A cheaper car and more therapy. In essence, I bought myself: get the biggest mistakes out of the way so that adulthood would be smooth sailing. Easy.

My thirties brought a whole new type of difficulty: my body fell apart. A mystery disease took me out at the cellular kneecaps. I was leveled in my life. My mentor, a former Jesus priest, said (in his thick Indian accent), “stand on your crooked legs and accept the challenge.” I did it and went with a metaphorical – sometimes literal – limp. Then, when life got hard, I used my Finpoint Sharpie pen and wrote the word “Stand” on my wrist temporary tattoo, a reminder.

In the mid -thirties, unfair and defeated, I realized that life was difficult. For everyone. The universe was not out to get me, and I was not special. A late flower with an old soul I had an awakening: if I were to survive, best sees lives as whack-a-mol. When something shows up (and inevitably it comes), hit it. Get really good at the game instead of denying that there is. Joan Rivers said it best: “Listen. I wish I could say it gets better. But it doesn’t get any better. You get better. ”

This strategy worked and I mastered it. My career in finance as CXO (Chief Experience Officer) received national recognition. I produced and hosted a weekly live Talk Radio Show. Heck, my face was on signs. It was obvious that I had arrived. My friend and I created a successful local storytelling event and society while I became a certified life coach. The culmination of such good things led me to the dream of owning a piece of Traverse City Pie: a house. The house-one cozy ranch in the middle of the century with corner window-and I am a match in real estate heaven. My neighbor Joyce, who is in the 90s, is my life coach and we look up for each other. And since I don’t like silence, I got a pomeranian, host as summer concerts and eventually joined an improv group called Tilt Think. Life was good, so I decided to celebrate my 40th birthday a year early to honor my aunt who died at 39. Why wait to party if the years are not guaranteed?

It was a wise move. A year later, in 2020, my actual 40th landed within one and a half months of Lockdown. I stood in a long winter coat, six meters from my family on my lawn and waved to the parade of cars after a fire truck. I realized (again) that life can turn on a penny. Pandemin inspired many of us to do things out of character. In my case, I decided to meet … intentionally.

I sat out there and asked the same questions as I did advance: “Where have you been? Who have you been with? “I thought it best to prepare for the next global disaster with someone. This is what you do in the 40s. You are planning for disasters instead of doing them.

My idea worked! Before snowfall, I was set with a guy who moved here from the city. Finally someone who had not already dated everyone in my city! When the world remained careful, we made a connection. The silent pandemic days were filled with mini adventures and movie nights. I learned to like anime, cats and poker. If this was a movie, you would start hearing the non-diegetic soundtrack that the characters can’t. It leads the audience in: The story is about to change. Dread settles. Now pull the excitement for another one and a half years when the life lesson 234,568,247,387 begins in the spring of 2022.