Turning 70
I was recently reminded that when I opened the Ale House, I would sometimes explain to people that “I will be dead soon.” – I was 50 at the time. So, at 50, I felt I needed to get the restaurant/brewery thing out of my system before that happened. Here I am now, “crowding 70”, as my grandfather would have put it, and still telling people “I will be dead soon.” And so, with that in mind – morbidly so I guess – maybe I have something more to get out of my system before that happens. And what is that? Let’s just say “we will see.”
Heading to 70 has confounded me a bit. I don’t find it too limiting, but rather I find it amusing. Everybody knows that a man remains 20 inside as his exterior begins to crumble. Snow on the roof and fire in the belly. And we (men) often forget that we are not 20. My body has a hard time going out in the evening and staying awake after 7pm – and that’s pushing it. My 20-year-old mind is willing, but nothing else is. And when I watch a movie and notice all the actors, I see that most are younger than me – nearly all, by a lot. Tom Cruise is catching up, however. And I don’t run up or down the stairs anymore, mostly because I can’t and also mostly because I will surely end up somewhere not in the plan.
And yet, I have a feeling of ‘life begins at 70’. I’m more experienced than I have ever been. “Smarter not harder” are words that fortify me as I mature in body. What it means is ‘get somebody else to lift that keg.’ And you know what? I’m tired of being 69. It has been awkward. I’d like to leave it behind. 70 makes me smile.
As for looking back over 20 years of restauranting and brewing, I am not sure what to make of it. I feel as though I might have gone through my second adolescence. Others may have had a mid-life crisis in my position, and bought a Jag, but I just got older, quit a really good job and opened the Ale House, all while driving my version of a Jag, an Outback. Loved that car.
I could say more, but who wants to hear it? The Ale House is your place; enough about me!
Thanks for being there, some of you for 20 years!
Rick Walton, Almost 70 and still here
