One Prime Age Just Passed Me By
But More Are Ahead
I turn 38 today, October 11. I am looking forward to a new year in my life, with ideally at this point in life having slightly more years ahead of me than behind. Birthdays always bring fun times, signs of love and well-wishes from family, friends, and confidantes, wonderful gifts received, and reflection about one’s life journey. But as I turn 38, I feel this slightly budding existential angst — did my prime just pass me by? I literally was in the prime age at 37. It is the last prime number this side of 40!!!!
Prime is such a wonderful word and term, isn’t it? Besides prime numbers, you have prime-time television, prime steak, prime layers of paint, prime rate for loans. Synonyms of prime include chief, best, first, foremost, principal, topmost, utmost, and so forth. And just like a prime number is a principal number by definition of not compounding from any other number(divisible only by one and itself), the prime times of one’s life might be the chief years of energy, richness, and fullness of one’s life that become both the foundation and catalyst for other times.
At 38, have I passed the prime times of my life? Are the times to come mainly a corollary to what happened yesterday? In some ways, for certain. You start to sense time’s fleeting nature in your teens(at least this is what I remember). And this only increases as you get older. But on the other hand, you also recognize the spark of energy from youth can endure as you get older. As I have related with other writers’ feelings in previous pieces, I understand the phrase “17 with so many years of experience” firsthand in my late thirties rather than just a humorous greeting card phrase. You can sense your most zestful and energetic self become more wise and experienced with age, and learn to tap into a more “youthful” version of yourself when life experiences call.
And as the chart of prime numbers shows, in other ways many prime times in my life are still ahead(ideally most years ahead with countless prime times to enjoy). This is true for each of us, as the promise of beautiful wonderful tomorrows is laid before us like a field with the unreachable horizon always ahead. As the wonderful maxim goes: “today is the first of the rest of your life.” This is true whether age 38, 45, 57, 65, or 85. There is always this promise of tomorrow coupled with the opportunity to make each day count by living in it fully.
I may not have any “prime number” ages left before 40. But this new year in my life will be nothing short of amazing and a “prime” year nonetheless. Each year has its blessings, challenges, good times, and bad. The last year brought extraordinary hardship and loss — losing a mother-in-law to unimaginable cancer and other family members as well — but also great renewal, lessons learned, fun times, and immeasurably rich moments. I don’t know what the future holds, but I continue to hold faith in Divine guidance to help me realize the endless riches available in each second and tap into the infinite Divine forces of Goodness and Love available to help me withstand any hardship. And ironically, my next “prime number” year will be 41, then 43, then 47, then 53, and on! I will have many more “prime number” years ahead well past life’s midpoint, with each year promising new moments of the “primest” value! My journey is only beginning.
And as I count my blessings and look forward to a new year ahead personally, I also offer prayers and well wishes for my close family, friends, and confidantes — as well as acquaintances, strangers, and all fellow humans aroudn the world — to also be able to look forward to and enjoy the many primes ahead in their lives. The world these days can seem like such a frightening and dismal place. Anyone age 30 or older can remember the unbridled optimism that the late 20th century offered. We thought the 21st-century was going to be this whole new golden futuristic age with ever-advancing technology, health, and promises of global unity and triumph. We’ve lost count of how many tragic upsets the still-very-young new century has brought, with the 2020s bringing this once-in-a-century global pandemic, continued horrid threats of climate change and other environmental disasters, global social and political unrest, and continued conflicts and wars in numerous places.
But there is still so much unlimited promise and potential with countless things to be happy and optimistic about on a global level. We can truly hope and pray that humanity as a whole will rise up and face each new challenge that comes along — much like countless hundreds of millions banded together during the darkest moments of Covid —over the coming decades and even centuries. The best of times and innumerable primal moments are waiting for those youngest today and for the future generations to come. And in our own personal lives, we can hope and pray for the best and brightest for others — both those closest to us and farther out — as well as ourselves so that all may look forward to prime times to come.
Okay, so this birthday reflection has turned into a larger philosophical and spiritual rant with broad generalizations. But let me just put this down here at the end of this piece. Mathematics has certainly revealed for millennia that there is no greatest prime number. Is it not at least part of much more boundlessly complex domains to offer the musing that there can be no upper limit to the promise of numerous primes to come in the future as well?
