You're only as old as you feel

Next week, I will be turning 35. This doesn’t bother me that much. By the time you hit 34, you’ve pretty much accepted that you’re hurtling towards middle age and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. So I’m just accepting it. Or so I thought…

Today, while driving and listening to the radio, a song came on that reminded me of the first concert I ever attended. It was 1986, I was in 5th grade, and my best friend Heather took me to a Bon Jovi concert. It was at the Capital Centre in DC and thanks to Heather’s dad, we had fabulous seats in his corporate box. What a way to be inaugurated into concert-going. In fact, it was so great that it kind spoiled me for all the other concerts I would attend…until my first job after college.

One week after graduating college - a decade after my Bon Jovi concert - I went to work at a 14,000 seat arena as a Marketing Manager. I did PR for the shows, events and concerts that came there. And I can honestly say that the only thing better than sitting in a box for an incredible concert is being able to eat dinner with the artists before they go on stage. During my time there, some of the people I met included Dave Matthews, Garth Brooks, James Taylor, Eddie Vedder, Ace Frehley, Angus Young, LeAnn Rimes, The 1996 U.S. Olympic Womens Gymnastics Team, and a whole bunch of wrestlers, rodeo riders, ice skaters and circus clowns. I saw concerts that were sold out and concerts that no one wanted to attend. And in a way, this experience also ruined me for future concert-going because now when I go to a concert or event, I’m always looking for the things I know to look for – the behind-the-scenes action that I’m certain is going on…whose shepherding in the press photographers? Where’s the song list? I wonder what they had for dinner?

But this brings me back to today, riding around in my car, listening to “Livin on a Prayer”. It occurred to me that I attended Bon Jovi’s concert almost 25 years ago. That’s a long time. That makes me feel old. This is the first time I’ve said I did anything “25 years ago”. But I don’t think the years bother me when I can look and see all that I’ve accomplished in them. Right now, I have everything I wanted to have at this point. I was able to experience a great career for a decade. I have a wonderful husband and two precious children. I even have the dog, the crossover SUV in the driveway and the little white house with a big backyard and pretty flowers that come up every spring (c’mon spring!) So 35 doesn’t phase me. It’s just a milestone on the journey of life. Or in the words of Bon Jovi …”We’re half way there. Take my hand and we’ll make it I swear.”