The Decade Is Almost Done

As we approach the end of 2019, a bunch of people have suddenly realized it's the end of a decade and they're sharing on social media their accomplishments over the past 10 years. (Note: these are the people who think a decade starts on the even-numbered year and ends on the odd-numbered year, which, I guess... whatever. Remember that whole conversation about how the millennium didn't start in 2000 but instead 2001?)

I ran my own list, which has some accomplishments, sure, but at this point in life it's more like a list of things that happened around me that I had to respond to and be part of (mostly the deaths of elderly parents and in-laws and their aftermaths, or the adulting of Daughter Number Three-Point-One, who went from being 16 to 26).

But while doing this I also realized that because I was born in late 1959, the world's decades — when based on the 00–X9 formulation — march in lockstep with my own decades. I was 51 at the start of the decade and I'm 60 at the end. I am the decade.

I may have realized this before, but I don't think so. Of course, I share this with all the other people born in years ending in 9, something like 10 percent of the population, so whoopee.

I wonder if I can I add this new awareness to my list of achievements?