I got a few years on you OP but I too stopped playing music in the bars ( got a better paying audio day job and I like being at home at night ) but I have been in a mid-life crisis the last 28 years! 28 years ago my 1st wife unexpectedly left and my buddy said, "you should buy a Harley" I did and my life has never been the same!
I then put a band on the road and did everything I thought I would not be able to do and that was when I was 29. Now in my upper 50's I think I have people admire the way I have lived and my life choices. I do have a loving 2nd wife ( She is a keeper as she has never said Grow Up). I have a large family and Blessed beyond measure but I never grew up!
If you got people messing with you for what you own, what you buy, who you are and what you do... Understand people don't like when someone such as you are I don't fall into that perfect mold of what and who we are "suppose" to be, If you are a musician, you can't, its not in your DNA! If its your neighbors giving you lip, just park your toys out front like I do and let them talk! Buy some more hot rods and turn a wrench as LIFE IS SHORT! TOYS
At 62 I no long care what anyone thinks about what I drive, what I say, my politics, the way I dress, where I live, what I do or who I do it with. The only person I try to to aspire to be . . . is a better me.
The Average life expectancy in America is 74.8, so that makes "Mid Life" around 37. OP you are beyond midlife so stop worrying what other thinks and just be the best you!
Most of us have far less weekends ahead then we have behind and no one knows whey your number gets called. Enjoy life, buy more toys, ride more, have more sex, and just worry less. Life is way to short to worry about what family, friends, and strangers think.
Last edited by Calif Fat Bob; 07-17-2024 at 11:13 AM.
Why would anyone give 2 ***** about what someone else thinks of them? You should be more like Rounders. I mean, there's a guy that has exactly zero respect, annoys the hell out of everyone, doesn't even own a Harley, takes all kinds of well deserved abuse here, and doesn't give a rats *** what anyone thinks of him.
Originally Posted by Tommy C
People like Rounders. He has a talent for giving a dying thread a new lease on life.
I would DEFINITELY put Rounders on a short list of folks from here on HDForum I would like to meet and have a beer with! . I'd invite Uncle Larry too!
My wife says I'm perpetually 15 years old...I'm like, but you say that like its a bad thing?!! I say, do you really want me to act like I'm 52?! For real?! Have seen enough friends try to appease the wife/kids & end up completely miserable, not gonna happen here!!
My wife says I'm perpetually 15 years old...I'm like, but you say that like its a bad thing?!! I say, do you really want me to act like I'm 52?! For real?! Have seen enough friends try to appease the wife/kids & end up completely miserable, not gonna happen here!!
Yep me too. Been married 38 years and wife says you haven't changed since I met you at 17.
I'm turning 60 this year. Have rode motorcycles all my life. I don't play in a band because I have zero musical talent but I have a lot of respect for those that do. I love music and will go watch a live band any chance I get.... I'm into old school rock, blues and country music. Of course none of that new pop crap as it makes my ears bleed....
In my late 40s - early 50s, I decided maybe it was time to give up riding motorcycles as other friends were giving it up, traffic was getting stupider, I figured it was maybe time to grow up, be more responsible yada yada....
Anyhoo, fortunately that foolishness didn't last. Here I am, almost 60 and just added a second Harley Davidson to the stable last week. One thing I have learned is that its important to focus on doing what YOU want to do and not give a crap about what anyone else thinks. Lots of people out there are living miserable lives of their own doing and are not happy unless you're not happy too.
I am lucky in that these days, I am able to hang out with like minded people (who also oddly enough enjoy riding motorcycles) and I have a loving wife who fully supports my "motorcycle habit". I intend to continue riding motorcycles and enjoying the hell out of them until I'm physically too old to hold a motorcycle up.
Last edited by flh canuck; 07-17-2024 at 11:42 AM.
Same here. I'm about to turn 53, my wife is 55, and we are DINKS also. I never wanted a kid. My wife didn't really want any either. At the age we met and got married (We married 9 years ago, been together for 13 years), that ship had sailed anyway. We both make enough money to comfortably afford some extras. We do a lot of travel overseas, we are going to Greece for two weeks this fall. Two week Alaskan land tour/Alaskan cruise next summer. I occasionally get the "Must be nice" comment. I usually reply "Yes, it is" or "Sounds like you are jealous." We spent a lot of years when we were younger working crap jobs, with long hours, finally working our way up to the jobs, and pay, we have now. So we EARNED it. Point being, like many here have stated, I do not GAF about what anyone thinks. Most people annoy the **** out of me, so I am pretty much a loner, and I like it that way. Way less drama in my life that way, in fact, the drama level is zero.
To the OP, enjoy your bike. And keep strumming those guitars, even if it is just for you and your family's enjoyment. And hit the firing range once in a while. I find time on the range to be cathartic. It sounds like you've earned it as well.
Sounds like you and I are cut from the same cloth.
I'm 39 (40 very, very soon) and bought my 19 FLHC two summers ago. Ever since, people are telling me I'm having a mid life crisis. I've had a motorcycle (usually two at a time) consistently from age 15 to 36 when my daughter (only child) was born. I went nutts and sold my bikes at that point. I completely quit playing live music in bars 3-4 nights a week. I stopped wrenching on my hot rods and sold them. After a two year riding break, I couldn't take it anymore and bought my current ride. These A$$hats can shove it, but it's still annoying. Anyone else experience this BS? I've always been a toys guy, a giant kid. Guitars, boats, hotrods, tools, bikes, etc. Never had money when I was younger, but picked up stuff for nickels and fixed it myself.
If your wife is OK with it then enjoy yourself. Build up some good memories for the future.
Why would anyone give 2 ***** about what someone else thinks of them? You should be more like Rounders. I mean, there's a guy that has exactly zero respect, annoys the hell out of everyone, doesn't even own a Harley, takes all kinds of well deserved abuse here, and doesn't give a rats *** what anyone thinks of him.
I don't respect you. So I wear it like a badge of honor. Why would I want someone like you, to like me? I would question myself then.
Been riding motorcycles since I was in my early twenties, with the exception of two year break due to a serious motorcycle accident and the fact at the same time I was about to go through a messy, contested expensive divorce at 32.
My oldest daughter was born when I was 19 so I was a father at a younger age than most.
At 46 my youngest graduated high school and my riding time, and time for other things opened up incredibly.
while my youngest was in grade school and High school I was riding and play ice hockey while most dads maybe played golf.
I now have six going on seven grandkids and I can say that I am the only one who rides a Harley.
My dad ( God rest his soul)
told me along time ago was this.
If you are meeting your financial obligations and you are doing what you should be from a family standpoint,
there is no reason to deny yourself of the hobbies you like to do.
I have always lived by this and have not regretted it.
07-17-2024, 10:57 AM
. I'd invite Uncle Larry too!
