After months, weeks, days and hours of clinging to my extremely late 30s, on Saturday I acceded to time's insistence and turned 40. It's one of those milestone birthdays, of course, a big round number that-like major anniversaries and class reunions-leads one to take stock of how one's life is turning out.

For me, the assessment is just about all positive. At home, I have a cherished wife, daughter and son, a lovingextended family, great friends and a comfortable house in a town we enjoy. At work, I have a fulfilling and interesting job in the business I've always wanted to be in.

Indeed, it's almost eerie how my life today matches up with the expectations I had even in childhood. I have a yellowing autobiography I wrote toward the end of sixth grade, when I was about to turn 12, that includes this forecast under 'Future Plans':

I hope to finish Hunter College High School [I had just been admitted for seventh grade] and go on to a college with a good school of journalism. I would like to work for a large metropolitan newspaper as a reporter or columnist. I might try TV journalism later. I would get married, have 2 kids, and live in a house in Westchester with a swimming pool and a barbecue grill in the back yard.

Well, I don't have a swimming pool. Any other regrets? On the family front, not so much a regret as a challenge: I aim to work on being a better husband and father, resisting my mild tendency toward self-absorption. Professionally, while I am indeed happy with my current position, I feel a nagging sense that I'm not quite the star I had hoped to become; I may have had a deficit of the kind of brashness and drive needed to stand out more than I have. As for leisure time, I'm glad to be playing more tennis, a longtime goal, but perhaps it will be in my fifth decade that I resume writing short stories, a favorite pastime of my teens and 20s.

Speaking of leisure, I didn't celebrate this birthday with a surprise party, as I very surprisingly did for my 39th. I played golf in the morning with dear friends, then had an earlyish dinner at New York's Le Bernardin with my wife (we celebrated her 30th birthday there some years ago). We ended the night with more dear friends, over drinks at a hotel bar, and my wife and I had a room booked for the night upstairs while my mother graciously babysat back at our place.

Readers, have you taken a step back upon a milestone occasion to reflect on the state of your juggle and your life? If not, use mine to muse on it-what do you appreciate, what do you regret, what's been most surprising?

John J. Edwards III

• extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
• childhood [´tʃaildhud] n.幼年(时代)；早期 (初中英语单词)
• hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
• challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向....挑战；怀疑 (初中英语单词)
• tendency [´tendənsi] n.趋势；倾向 (初中英语单词)
• writing [´raitiŋ] n.书写；写作；书法 (初中英语单词)
• celebrate [´selibreit] vt.庆祝；表扬；赞美 (初中英语单词)
• celebrated [´selibreitid] a.著名的 (初中英语单词)
• reflect [ri´flekt] v.反射；反响；表达 (初中英语单词)
• appreciate [ə´pri:ʃieit] v.评价；珍惜；感激 (初中英语单词)
• positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)
• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
• reporter [ri´pɔ:tə] n.报告人；记者；广播员 (高中英语单词)
• leisure [´leʒə] n.空闲；悠闲；安定 (高中英语单词)
• tennis [´tenis] n.网球(运动) (高中英语单词)
• decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
• metropolitan [,metrə´pɔlitən] a.大城市的 n.大城市人 (英语四级单词)
• upstairs [,ʌp´steəz] ad.在楼上 a.楼上的 (英语四级单词)
• graciously [´greiʃəsli] ad.仁慈地，和蔼庄重地 (英语四级单词)
• insistence [in´sistəns] n.坚持；坚决主张 (英语六级单词)
• extended [iks´tendid] a.伸长的；广大的 (英语六级单词)
• forecast [´fɔ:kɑ:st] vt.&n.预测；预报 (英语六级单词)
• journalism [´dʒə:nəlizəm] n.新闻业；新闻工作 (英语六级单词)
• deficit [´defisit] n.缺乏，赤字，亏空 (英语六级单词)
• surprisingly [sə´praiziŋli] ad.惊人地；意外地 (英语六级单词)