I SPENT THE last half of my 50s saying “well, I’m almost 60.” And now… well… suddenly I am. Despite the last few years of saying I’m almost there, it’s not exactly the place I was anxiously looking forward to! While my 60s should be the decade of retirement, it’s also the decade with increased potential for cancer, heart attacks and who knows what manner of aging ailments. For the past couple weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that statistically, I am now in the last 25% of my life… 75% is over.
A sobering thought.
But I’m not all morose about it. I’ve had a pretty good run up to now, and I do hope that I’ve got another 20-30 years of mostly healthy life ahead and can eventually get enough time off the 9-5 hamster wheel to do a lot more of the things I love. More writing, more composing, more reading, more traveling… more pinball! So I need to stay healthy for the next few years so I can get there!
Back when I turned 50, I did a big party for a bunch of my friends and family at the Hofbrauhaus in Rosemont, IL. I’ve actually been to the original Hofbrauhaus in Munich and love the one in Cincinnati. But… a couple years ago our Chicagoland iteration closed. So I couldn’t repeat that for 60. I thought about taking people to Two Brothers Brewery, a place I love quite a bit… and also wanted to have everyone out to Rock Island Public House, my favorite pinball bar in Blue Island… but that’s a bit off the beaten path for everyone. In the end, I decided to just stage a couple of gatherings at my house over my birthday weekend (March 14-15) instead of going out.
And it turned out to be an amazing weekend, from start to finish. I’ll post a quick pictorial below but… here’s the Cliff Notes of hours and hours of good times:
THURSDAY
The “celebration” all started Thursday night, when I played (and won) a pinball tournament near where I grew up on the south side of Chicago. I love playing with the Blue Island crew at Rock Island Public House, so I was excited to go hang out there just before the weekend.
And as it turned out, Brian, Jamie and Derek – three of my friends from the pinball league I play in in St. Charles – showed up to surprise me. I even managed to get a group picture with them all.
FRIDAY
On Friday, Geri and I drove out to Iowa City to pick up Shaun for his Spring Break, so I got my son back for my birthday. A nice gift all by itself! Before we turned around with him in the car to head three hours right back home, we had dinner at 30Hop, one of my favorite spots in Iowa. So it was a good final day of my 50s!
SATURDAY (the Big Day)
On Saturday, as I was sitting with my birds, having my coffee and thinking about prepping the house for the party that night, there came an unusual knock on my office door. I turned around to find that my brother Mike and his wife Tiffany were in my house… they flew in from Kansas City to surprise me!
Color me blown away!!!
That night, I had nearly 20 of my closest friends (pals from high school, horror, work and pinball) hang out in my basement with me and Mike, eating Portillo’s Italian beef, drinking beer, toasting bourbon and giving my pinball machines a workout. Oh… and watching Suspiria and The Cure. I put those on the big screen behind us to have the right background soundtrack for the night.
It was an utterly great birthday party.
SUNDAY
On Sunday, we topped the night before with more than 30 members of my family in the house. I started the smoker at 9 a.m. that day and smoked a pork shoulder, a couple of chickens and some sausage to feed everyone, so it was a crazy day start to finish. It was also the first time all five Everson siblings have been in the same room at the same time in something like 30 years. We even recreated our childhood picture when I was probably about 10 years old. (Which is pretty hilarious because my youngest sister wasn’t born yet and my brother had to lie on the floor like a baby… see pix below).
Soooo another pretty momentous day.
I told everyone not to bring gifts, but my bar still seems to have acquired some amazing bottles of bourbon and whiskey (thanks guys) and my sister-in-law came through with the one thing I DID ask for – Pliny the Elder IPA from Russian River Brewing in California. She flew home for the weekend and brought one of my favorite beers that I haven’t had in years with her.
THE MORNING AFTER
On Monday morning, shortly after my brother left for the airport, my birthday present to myself came… It’s been over seven years since the last time I added a pinball machine to my basement arcade, and so, to celebrate 60, I took the plunge and bought a new Godzilla pin. Not only is it brand new, it’s my first game that wasn’t made prior to 1985!!! This thing connects to the Internet and logs your scores to the Stern Insider App so you can benchmark against other players worldwide. It would have been cool to have it for the birthday weekend, but it would have made things even more crowded in the busy weekend basement. I spent the day after the crazy weekend learning some new silver ball tricks.
So here we are… the whirlwind weekend is done, but I truly appreciate all the birthday wishes, texts, gifts, hugs and toasts. Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate the fact that I’m still alive after 60 years!!!
