Passing of time

From the "Friends" episode entitled "The One With The Birth", where the gang is looking at Ross' newborn son Ben:

RACHEL: Oh, god, I can't believe one of us actually has one of these.
CHANDLER: I know, I still am one of these.

Last week, a few of us went up to Sacramento to visit the Miyais and see Christopher for the first time (as well as to play with Oski). In between chowing down on gourmet nachos, playing fetch with Oski inside (sorry Alice!) and outside the house, and watching Lebron's playoff debut, we got to dote on and marvel at the new life God's given them to love, teach, protect, and present to the world as a complete person. Back in March, not too long after Christopher came into the world, my other college friends Andy and Pam had their own new addition, Hannah.

It kinda hit me that my peers were now beginning to move into the "next" stage of life (I define my peers as friends I could have gone to high school or college with - 3 years older or 3 years younger). Peers that I had classes with, small group Bible studies in college, played ball with... are now adjusting to the new level of responsibilities involved with being parents.

My dad once shared a perspective on life that goes something like this. The average lifespan for an American these days is around 77 years. In the first quarter-century of life, you ramp up - you grow from infant to adult, you go through teen years, you discover your personality, your interests, your relationships, you begin your career and start to figure out your place in life. In the next 25 years, many people will begin to move into a steady-state revolving around family - getting married, having children, raising them, all while continuing to mature professionally, personally, and spiritually, with more responsibilities than at other stages of life. The final quarter-century, you wind down - the kids are moved out, you begin to think about retirement from professional life and move into other pursuits. In that respect, I guess it looks kind of like a bell curve:



It's just kind of neat, and maybe a little scary, to see see my friends and peers moving into new stages of life, knowing that I'll presumably eventually do the same.