One month from today I will turn 49 years old.

I honestly don’t know what to make of the approaching number. In many ways, I do not feel like I am about to turn 49. On the other hand, I don’t know how a 49-year-old is supposed to feel. I’ve not done it yet.

The next 30 days I will be finalizing my list of 49 things I will do over the course of next year to live out loud. I’m excited to begin some of the items on this list as I want to experience a number of things I would’ve probably never considered, and stretch my courage and understanding of the world around me.

By the time I was 30, I had accomplished everything I had set out in life to do. I was an educator, a professional performer, an arranger and orchestrator, and a theater director. The only thing I had not fulfilled was becoming a dad. That happened before my 36th birthday.

Now, it is time to write the next chapters. My writing tools are before me, and I am eager to get going with the next Act of my play. I should probably just make it a musical, as I am sure there will be a hell of a lot of singing and dancing.