If everything had gone as planned, VISTA and the Peace Corps would be on my resume; solutions to the world's problems would've been discovered. That's what I thought when I was 18; why not when I'm 64?

"I wrote that song when I was 16," said Beatle Paul McCartney discussing his song "When I'm 64" in a radio interview. "Sixty-four sounded so old then. Now that I'm almost there, it's not that old!"

Like Paul, our generation had far-flung notions on aging.

We believed that at 50, a passel of "Veras, Chucks and Daves" would be atop our knees ready for a rousing story of "Winnie the Pooh." Barbecues and homespun holidays bubbling with the warmth of a Hallmark commercial would be a sure thing.

Strange how life charts its own course.

Our kids are not married, grandchildren are a fading glimmer, and barbecues consist of dragging the contraption to the back door and cooking a couple of burgers while watching "American Chopper."