The hardest thing about growing old(er)

One thing that I've noticed with every new candle on my cake is that age makes hindsight much more clear.  20/20 clear.  Things like career choice, mate choice(s), friend choices, the choice of roads you took at various junctions in your life, etc.  You'll see in retrospect all the brilliant decisions you've made, but you'll also be haunted by the decisions you've blown.  I've heard people older than me say this for years, but until you actually experience it you can't fully grasp it.

General observations:  Things seldom work out 40 years later like you thought they would when you imagined them as a '20-something'.  Times change, new technologies emerge, old technologies disappear, some things that were very important to you in your 20's or 30's will hold no interest for you at all when you're in your 60's.  Your tastes will evolve, as will your ideology.  While the really big things such as your faith or love of family might remain constant, little else will.  Even the 'life goals' you set for yourself and meet will likely prove to be of little long-term consequence.

The trick, of course, is to accentuate the positives and minimize the negatives.  That's much easier said than done.

S