At what age happiness?

Every day I like to scan the stories on both Yahoo! and MSN.com. There's always some interesting reading there. But what caught my eye today was the story headlined "Study: 33 is the best age." There was a picture of actress Kate Hudson (known to many of us as Goldie Hawn's daughter). The brief article read, "Shake off your 20s—the best is yet to come. According to a new study by British social networking site Friends Reunited, 70 percent of survey-takers over the age of 40 said they were not truly happy until they'd reached 33. Actress Kate Hudson, who turns 33 this month, is in luck!" I had to think back to 33. For me, that was 1988. I was in my first year of operating the Alexandria Herald and Emery Enterprise. Melissa was 7, Kristina was 4, and Andrea was 2. Jessica and Brandon hadn't joined the family yet. Happy? Yes, I was happy -- happy to have a business, doing what I loved to do, with a beautiful family. I'd reached my goal. I'd bought my hometown newspaper and I was running it the way I wanted to run it. And I was doing it all -- writing news, feature and sports stories, editing submitted copy, typesetting, taking photos at sports and news events, selling advertising, proofreading, laying out the newspapers, writing headlines, even taking the newspapers to Madison to be printed. Heck, I was even writing out subscription cards to send to readers. My parallel military career was going smoothly. By then I was a captain in the Minnesota Army National Guard. But my favorite title, and the one I loved answering to, was "Daddy!" When I read that 33 was the "magic number," I thought "According to this my children haven't reached the age of true happiness yet." I hope each and every one of them finds true happiness though in family, friends and their communities. And, as every parent would, I will do anything and everything in my power to help them find happiness, independence and peace in their lives. But, thinking back on that article, I recalled that I always thought 28 was the perfect age. If I could freeze life at any age, it would be 28. Old enough to vote and be treated like an adult, no longer too young to be discounted as too young to know better, nor too old to be "over the hill" and untrustworthy. There is a lot of life ahead of you at 28. There is much cause for optimism. I would have trouble pinning down a certain age as the 'age of happiness.' The "hard times," however, are a little easier to pin down. Those I remember well. Hard times build character. Lessons are learned. But that makes them no less painful or difficult. They are just a part of life. Every decade has brought new challenges and new opportunities. The 20s were exciting, filled with freedom and the start of an adult life. The thirties were about building a family and a career. The forties I remember as a decade of pain, confusion and hurt. But the fifties have brought optimism, happiness and contentment. Oh, they've brought their share of challenges. Those never end. But they've also brought more realization that I'm no longer in the younger crowd. People my age are wrapping up careers, growing into their roles as grandparents; some of my best friends have died. Parents have passed away and Rog too. Life is viewed now through a mix of past experiences and a respect for those who have lived longer and experienced more than me. Where there once was brash opportunism, there is now wisdom. Not that we know it all, because we are keenly aware that we don't. Not by a long, long shot. I'm reminded of a sign that hung over Millie's desk at the Herald office. It read, "Half of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at." There is a lot of truth in that statement. I don't mean to imply that I don't respect the younger crowd. But they too have to live life, learn its lessons and apply them to their daily living. I laud their optimism and resilient spirit. Like every generation, I fear for my children and grandchildren. That's no different than our parents and grandparents did. We want what's best for our children and we want to protect them from a not-so-subtle, cruel world. But then every generation has risen to the challenge. We "baby boomers" followed 'The Greatest Generation,' and now Generation X (and Y and Z) will carry on after us. Life will go on. It always does. It's up to us to make each year the happiest one.