I enjoyed celebrating my 40th birthday Wednesday. My co-workers gave me a birthday card that featured blurry letters, and several cleverly smudged their handwriting on the inside. Being able to laugh at ourselves certainly makes getting older a little easier.

Forty is one of those landmark birthdays that indicates – what, exactly? It certainly doesn’t bring the expectations of 16, 18 or 21, when a person’s life stretches out before them with seemingly endless possibilities. Some see 40 as the stage when a midlife crisis will soon approach, and I have certainly seen some men make major life decisions in their early 40s.

Some aspects of turning 40 give me pause. The average life expectancy for a white male in the United States was 75.7 in 2004, according to government statistics. That means I’m closer to death than birth. That realization will stop you in your tracks.

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