It is 5 A.M. on Thanksgiving morning. I am getting ready to start cooking the Thanksgiving meal.

I roasted and carved the turkey yesterday. The turkey stock is set aside for gravy. Today is going to be given to the vegetable portion of the meal. My nephew, Ryan, is bringing a pie. My daughter, Amanda, is bringing the potatoes. My daughter-in-law, Kristine, is making beef Afritada. My nephew, Tyler, is bringing the drinks. That leaves Melanie and I to make: Mac and cheese, green bean casserole, turnip and carrots, butternut squash, stuffing and sweet potato pie.

Yesterday was my 58th birthday.

We celebrated with pizza from the pizzeria where my son-in-law works and carrot cake. As my 59th year begins I feel change is in the air. Change is always in the air, but this is different. As I approach old age I feel like this is my time of life. The period of my life I was really made for. I feel a sense of coming into my own. I am bidding farewell to what I was as a young man and even what I was as a middle-aged man and I am saying hello to something new… something more vital than anything I have ever experienced before. I am feeling old and strangely…strong.