601.

Two days ago, I was walking through the third floor hallway of Louisville's City Hall when I came upon Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh, Democrat of the 9th District. Knowing that she, like me, was turning 50 this year, I asked her when the big day was. Her response, said then, was "tomorrow," which was yesterday. There was a degree of empathy so I gave her a big hug and wished her well, reminding her my day arrives in September. We both commented that being 49 has been difficult, as was for both of us, interestingly, 29.

She is past that now - she is 50. I remember 30 being just fine once I got over the hangover from that Sunday night celebration in 1990. I called Bingo my 30th birthday night at Holy Family Catholic Church, something I did there on many Sundays over a twenty-five year period from 1984 to 2009. And, I was still enjoying cold beer then, something I haven't done since the mid 1990s, and I enjoyed quite a few that September night. But leading up to that night, 29 was just plain hell. So, I've got a few days under seven months left to enjoy my 40s. I'm trying to enjoy them.

Unrelated, but on the bright side, literally, there was a blazing sun in the sky when I got up and moving this morning, albeit still 22 degrees outside. I've had two very close friends who've been unemployed for over six months. One got a call to go back yesterday and the other was told he'd be getting a call today. Those are great burdens lifted for them and for me.

Life is getting better, even at 49.