More Than Half

A few weeks into October, and I sit on a dark, Autumn night in Aberystwyth. It's a familiar scene to last year, save one big difference: I'm 31.

Age has never been a big hang-up of mine. Especially not since I've hit most of the major age milestones in my life: 16 - able to drive, 18 - able to vote/graduation, 25 - able to rent a carpet shampooer. Once I hit about 27 or so, my birthday has become a sort of blurred melding of ages that loosely represent another span of time that has passed, but nothing has really changed.

Which is, of course, not true. I've done a lot since that storied time I realized I could shampoo carpets: I've gotten a Master's degree in English, my Dad has died, I started a PhD in English, I've become an Uncle a few times over, etc. etc. The thing is, none of these changes in my life happen on my birthday, so it's hard to associate that day with something awesome.

This summer I got to meet up with long time friend, fellow Logos leader, and similar life-moment sharer Victoria...who I am incapable of calling anything but Vicky. It was good to see old friends, and Vicky is always good conversation, especially since, like me, she has had a mass of achievements happen in her life, mostly after 25. I called another friend of mine, Claire, on the ride to Catherine's house. Claire, likewise, went to Benet with me, and was the second person I made friend with there (the first being John Z).

What dawned on me, especially closer to my birthday, is that I've known Claire and Vicky (and John, who will remain parenthetical) for more than half my life. See, I met Clair in August of 1994, a fresh faced 13-year-old, wearing a tie and scared out of his mind at the prospect of high school. Luckily, Claire had a deck of cards and we amused ourselves through the rest of homeroom by playing some card game.

This, as an idea, was not completely surprising. I mean, there are always moments in your life when you have been doing something for more than half the time you've been alive. If you started walking by one, by three you've spent more time walking than not walking. 31, though, is a more significant time in my life, because I have entered a stretch of years where I have been doing adult things for more of my life than not doing adult things.

For example, when I turn 33, I will have been driving for more years of my than not. At 37, I will graduated closer to the day of my birth than my current age. And so on. It's almost as if I am hitting "more-than-half-my-life" milestones. As each new year approaches, I can think celebrate having spent most of my life doing something.

31 was not too terribly earth shaking, since I didn't get my driver's permit until I turned 17. But, in September of 1995, I was given my first bass guitar, which has started me down a long road as an amateur musician. You see, when I was in high school, (John) and some other of my friends, Paul and Ryan, wanted to start a band. At this point in my life I was playing the tuba for Benet's symphonic ensemble, so it seemed like a natural fit. After trying to work the band around a tuba, and horribly failing, my friends got together and bought me a learner bass. From there, Bovus Solis was born (and if you know Latin, then you know we got it wrong, but the name comes from The Odyssey, when in book five, Odysseus and crew stop to relax on Apollo's island; there, they are warned not to eat the Cows of the Sun God, etc. etc.; you can read more here). After college, we didn't stay together, but I still endeavored to be a musician, playing in: NPE (Monmouth College, cover band), several church bands (St. Dominic: Life Teen, formal choir and Spanish masses; and St. Elizabeth Seaton: Life Teen), Cicatrix (post-Monmouth/pre-SIU hardcore punk band), Primal Seed (post-Monmouth, pre-SIU jam band of sorts with Monmouth Alums), and the Adam Van Winkle Harmonic experience (SIU jam band). Since that first bass, I've purchased four more, three electric guitars, two acoustic guitars, and a mandolin. When I was teaching at St. Dominic, I formed two bands to play at the yearly talent show (Mr. Clean and the Disinfectants) and performed solo one year. When planning on coming to Aberystwyth, I was gutted (Americans: read deeply saddened) by the fact that I was not going to be around my electric equipment. I did manage to get my acoustic over here, and have played with several of my friends here in Wales.

Music is a large part of my life, and I've been making it for more than half my life now.

So, from here on out, I will have been working towards being and adult for the majority of my life. In retrospect, 15-year-old Keegan imagined more. But 31-year-old Keegan is pretty happy with where's he been, and is particularly excited to see where he's going.