THE CLOSE OF A DECADE! THE ADVENT OF A TOO-SWIFT descent!? The week before I turned 49, I lay on the bed of a Dexa Body Scan machine, a contraption that measured my body fat, lean muscle, weight, and BMI. The week before I turned 49, an optometrist broke the news that my astigmatism had worsened to the point that bifocals would help. Don’t worry, they make them now where you can’t see the bifocal lenses, she tried to assure me. The week I turned 49, I got a physical and told my doctor that I’d developed a nagging pain in my shoulder to accompany the chronic pain in my groin, that the muscles in the sole of my right foot seized on the regular. The week I turned 49, I ended months of procrastination by completing the paperwork for my living will and trust. But of course it forced me to assess my lesser-than-they-should-be assets. What I hadn’t predicted, though, was the dread of filling out a durable health-care power-of-attorney form (autopsy? organ donation?); ditto for the morbid angst of DNR and end-of-life elections. (Did I want my life prolonged if diagnosed with a terminal condition? And if so, for how long and in what ways?)
My God!
Ever since I was knee-high to grown folks, soon as I turned an age, I’d contemplate the next one. Turn nine, what will ten feel like? Turn 21, how underwhelming will 22 feel, how overwhelming 25? On trend, no sooner than I turned 45 did I begin imagining the big 5-0.
Like the masses, I’d been indoctrinated to view 50 as the arrival of middle age, maybe the most important milestone in all of grown-ass-manhood and, as such, the primest age for commemoration.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
hasan minhaj had a very strange year
The comedian felt the wrath of the Internet AND lost a career-defining job opportunity. NOW he's back with an interview series, A NEW NETFLIX SPECIAL, and a fresh perspective on his COMEDY.
the perfect girl friend
Flirty, sexy, seductive, supportive. Your AI companion can be whatever you want her to be. And now a growing number of men are turning to bots to ease their loneliness or satisfy their kinks. The choices are endless. The emotions are real.
thinker
Andrew Garfield has big ideas about life and death-even a theory about the nature of time. Over an afternoon at one of his favorite New York City haunts, the actor let us into his world.
priceless
At Hermès, Axel de Beaufort will make whatever you imagine. Its value can be measured not in dollars but in the hours spent crafting it and the beauty it adds to the world.
shoes with staying power
The Shannon lace-up from Church's is a study in enduring style
THE MIDLIFE CRISIS? TRY THE THREEQUARTER-LIFE QUANDARY.
Black men's life expectancy is short, thanks to history. At 49, am I on the downslope?
HOW THE DEMOCRATS GOT THEIR GROOVE BACK
They've been flinching ever since Reagan, but the party has finally figured out who they are.
WRITTEN ON THE BODY
As we age, we're fighting a losing battle against memory. Maybe that's why, in my 40s, I've tattooed myself with everything I can't bear to forget.
I Wore This Jacket to Death. Now It's Even Better.
Menswear designer Aaron Levine, who helped revitalize brands like Abercrombie & Fitch and Club Monaco, explains why he reaches for his Carhartt again and again and again
Check Yourself
Todd Snyder and Woolrich have teamed up to create a new breed of wearable luxury fashion. The iconic buffalo plaid remains a staple.
