Monday, September 15, 2014

Cowabunga! Life begins at Thir-tea

Prince Harry turns thirty today and less than a month ago, my own Lord Gulley the Younger, (aka, my oldest son, Rob) turned that same magical number. It's easy to dismiss it as being "soooo young", but when the Younger sank into a bit of a funk a week before his birthday, I tapped back into the long- ago and remembered having to come to grips with that age myself -  the somewhat arbitrary society-imposed demarcation between "young & carefree" and "responsible adult". Like most things, the dread is worse than the even itself and, as most of us discover, those milestones are really worth celebrating.

The Younger enjoying the first iteration of TMNT
Thirty is a great number. It's three decades of something and if the trajectory was mostly good, it's commendable.

Other recent 30 year milestones for 2014:

Thirty year tea commemorates three decades of Harney tea


  • Harney & Sons celebrated 30 years in business with a commemorative tea and it quickly became one one of my favorites after personally receiving a tin from Michael Harney.  (See our review in The Detroit Examiner column, Harney & Sons 30th Anniversary Blend: A lot to celebrate.)
  • Apple introduced the Mac., and that seems to have turned out pretty well.
  • Chrysler brought the world the mini-van. (seems like I drove those for years)


Celebrating 30 plus 1 years in May


  • Lord Gulley Senior,  and I celebrated our 31st anniversary (taking liberties, here, 30, plus 1).


The Younger is actually old enough now to see the recycling of some childhood favorites. Our family room used to be filled with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figurines, villains and vans. Last month, he saw the recent TMNT movie opening night. He may be a responsible adult, but "turtle power" says, you're still young & carefree. In fact, you're downright awesome, dude!


Old enough to see Turtle Power return & pair it with  adult favorite Breaking Bad
A self-help book written in 1932, gave way to the well-tread phrase of the Twentieth Century, "Life Begins at Forty". In 2014, it's fair to say life begins at thir-tea. In this new(er) millennium, where everything is fast-tracked, it's time to start the fun even sooner and it will be totally tubular.

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