The Middle of the Road

Excerpt from The Pretender's "Middle of the Road"

"The middle of the road is trying to find me

I'm standing in the middle of life with my plans behind me

Well I got a smile for everyone I meet

As long as you don't try dragging my bay (ok, I have no idea what this means; some thing to do with war, maybe?)

Or dropping the bomb on my street" (I suppose this means, short of tragedy, what is there to be unhappy about at this point?)

When I was 34 or so, I'd listen to this song and think, "Yeah, baby!" Then, it meant something to me like "I've got maybe half my life behind me, man, I'm starting to really dig this life thing"; this because I THOUGHT she sang, "I'm standing in the middle of life with my PAST behind me".

Also, I figured the song might have been about going from one (political) extreme to the other, finally settling somewhere in the middle, which is what happens to a lot of people as they get older. Life has a way of teaching us that our way it not always the only way.

However, now that I realized she was really saying PLANS behind me, it brings a whole different meaning to this song for me, right here, right now.

Add to it this stream of thought that my Father gave to me this morning (paraphrasing him) "You drove a long time in the fast lane. Now, you've drifted over to the middle lane where you can chose to jump back into the fast lane from time to time if you want OR, maybe even drift to the right. It's not so bad in the slow lane, especially if you're in a BMW 7-Series!"

Are my plans behind me? I don't know, probably. What I mean is, at my age, I've already done the biggie things I set out to do when I was a kid. I don't need to recount them all here as most of you who know me KNOW what these things are and those of you who don't won't give a rat's ass.

This isn't to say that there are not more things I'd like to do before I get to God's Waiting Room (another nice image from Father, thanks, dude!) I have all sorts of half-baked ideas that keep my mind going (whether I end up doing any of 'em, who is to say? Hell, I would not have thought one year ago that I would have started my own LLC to do HR Consulting or be on the Board of Directors for a symphony, but life happened!)

Some of these half-baked ideas, in order to become full-baked, might necessitate having to jump start a bit and move on over to the left lane for a time.

Others, like that great line from John Lennon (one of many) "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans" likely will occur while I'm chugging along in the middle or have slowed down in the right to re-charge; thinking about what I'm gonna do next.

And, everything I've done and continue to do puts me in a potential position (further on down the road, to continue with this road/traveling concept) to do something else, maybe.

People might think it's a bit lame for me to say I've done all I set out to do as it might lead them to think that means I'm done.

I'm not done.

Don't stick a fork in me yet! It's just the rest is going to be icing on the cake, is all.

So, for all of you flying by me in the left lane, have fun. Work hard. I'll see you at the end of the road!

Mrs. B