It always cracks me up the way little details in life make so much sense in retrospect. Some folks seem to have insight into this. Take Bright Eyes for example. I tend to think this guy is just more than a hipster flash in the pan singer song/writer. In fact some of his songs border on straight poetry full of absolute truths and insight beyond his years. One he wrote a few years ago that I absolutely love is called “I Believe in Symmetry.” For the uninitiated, listen here. I’m guessing he was somewhere in his early 20s at the time standing back and looking at the world knowing more or less that what lies ahead for him will be the same well worn path most of us travel.

There’s something about being young that makes you think your life will be sexier than your parents. Instead of ending up on some cul-de-sac named after the tress that were destroyed to build your community, you tend to dream about a road less traveled. A few of us fight this destiny with every fiber of our being knowing we are meant to be a movie star, safari guide or novelist. 30 humbles everyone and I have a feeling 40 kicks your ass. So maybe when it is all said and done, we meet the same fate. I don’t mean death but a mundane existence built around simple pleasures.

The ones that do continue chasing the carrot usually end up alone, broke and ravaged by a life less prudent. Fighting is for the young. Ask any 44 year old officer stuck in Iraq for the past couple of years. Somewhere along the line you have to accept your life will be less like a Miller Light commercial and more like a Prudential ad. Steady as she goes my friend.