Karma and the Bamboo Fly Rod

In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that the following is most likely inspired by my birthday.  I turned 45 yesterday. Forty-Five.  Four Five...Fifty less Five.  Thirty plus Fifteen.  Half of Ninety.

When we started Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods, we were in our  late 20s.   In contrast, the majority of our clientele is and always has been...ummm...older wiser.  I can honestly say that we have received the benefit of said wisdom on many occasions.  Through the years, Oyster clients have generously offered up some tidbits about getting old securing your place in life's phase two...

1.  Getting old ain't for sissies.  (Yes...oldie but goodie)
2.  I have been spending the second half of my life making up for how terrible I was in the first half.
3.  If you have not learned anything by this age, you are not paying attention.
4.  Bending over to pick something up is just hard now.
5.  Teach your kids to fly fish row the boat.

So, why do I feel young?  I do.  Why do I feel as though I am in my prime?  

Time has become illogical.  It has flown by in one sense but stood tortuously still in another...  As I look back on yesterday my entry from five years ago exactly, there has been a lifetime squeezed inside the confines of only half a decade.  

Oh wait...

I just purposely deleted an hour of writing with two paragraphs of clichés' about what I have learned in the past five years...

...Really...but I will say this about being 45 years old.

I own it.

This has been the absolute clearest path I have ever taken in life.  After "getting out of my own way", letting go of superficial hang ups and crossing over into a more refined vision of my second act, I own this age.

Fear and loathing is seriously over rated and the adage "getting what you give" bellows with such great force in my daily routine that it has become sacred.

You Get What You Give. 

If you accept that energy can not be created or destroyed...only transferred...this makes perfect sense.

True giving is not exclusively spoken for by a league of pre-determined people. It's in all of us.  It's often the most visceral reaction to any of life's event.  

Giving is quite possibly the lowest common denominator that connects us all...so why is it so difficult?  Personally, I have found that life's distractions and overpowering need for perceived self preservation can dull down the senses into apathy. 

However, if you pull your head out of your ass long enough to realize the universe was not actually created for you if you exalt kindness and compassion, life's possibilities and tidings are endless. 

Endless.  Energy.  Endless.