The roaring forties

I'm in mourning.  Although not dead yet, a good friend of mine is at death's door.  Not long left at all.  Hours, in fact.

Who is this friend?  It's my youth.  My younger years.  My pre-middle-age.

That's right folks, I turn forty tomorrow and I'm pretty sad to be leaving my thirties behind.  But hey, time waits for no man, right?  I guess I'm lucky to still have these rugged good looks.

With it being my fortieth and all, I thought I'd give you a list.  We bloggers love these lists, right?  The big question is what kind of list to give you.

I've been thinking about it these last few days, and in the end I decided that it would be a happy list.  A really happy list.  A list of the things that make me smile, things that I love, things that bring me joy.

Here goes.

1. Waking up in Paris, never gets old.

2. American Boy, the song, not the Floridian.

3. But while I'm at it, Florida Boy also makes the list

4. My 5 year old niece and her curiously well formed opinions

5. My 7 year old nephew and his big heart

6. Dancing to seventies disco classics

7. French toast, with maple syrup

8. A hairy chest on a handsome man

9. A cold beer with a view of the sunset

10. Trainers/sneakers - all of them

11. The Air France Lounge at Roissy 2E

12. Thorntons Continental

13. Overnight train journeys

14. Massaman curry at the Thai Rainbow

15. My Mom and all of her little foibles and idiosyncracies

16. Yes sir, I can boogie

17. Gin and Tonic, with a squeeze of lemon

18. Big C and nights out being stupid

19. New glasses, choosing them, buying them, wearing them

20. Late night taxi rides in foreign cities

21. Holding hands with someone I love

22. The DumbAss Yank and his ropey Aussie accent

23. Tokyo

24. Falling in love with a book

25. Sudoku

26. McVities Digestives

27. Friends meeting me at the airport

28. Free upgrades.  Anytime, anywhere

29. Hawaii

30. The Fierce People and their Paris madness

31. Arguing about what rocks with my Lovely Dutch/Welsh friend

32. Café Crème, rue de Birague

33. Trocadéro at sunrise

34. The first view of the sea

35. Sex, of course

36. Weekends in foreign cities on my own

37. Blogging

38. My Friends

39. My Family 

40. My Life

How's that?

I realise I'm lucky.  I realise that I have everything I could wish for.  

So many things on my list are just luxuries that make life great, but you know what?  

You could take them all away and leave me just my friends.  

I'd still be the luckiest guy on earth.  

My life is good and complete because of my friends.  

Without them, it'd be an empty shell, an idea of a life, a life unlived.

I know that the good times are officially here.  Instead of hoping for better things round the corner, I'm just going to ask that things stay as good as they are at the moment.  

Whilst I mourn the passing of my thirties, I step into my forties as a happy, lucky, smiling man.  

Really.  How great is that?