A half of the paper

I would like you all to do an exercise for me. Take a piece of paper, preferably a blank Aby4 piece, and fold it in half. It doesn't matter which way you fold it just make sure that it is exactly in half. I then would like you to get a writing utensil of some sort and on one side of the paper write 0-40 and on the other write 40- . As you look at the paper you can physically see that half of the paper has a definitive ending, 40 and the other half you only have a beginning but no end number. Assuming that the other half of the paper is numerical statistic you may have already figured that if you were to put an end it would be 80. Well, yes that would be right if in fact we could be precise about that fact but considering each half represents years we've lived and will live we/I can only be precise about the initial 1-40 years.

Ok, I suppose you’re wondering what this is all about. Well I am all consumed about this visual. In this modern age the average woman live to be about 80 hence the other half of the paper. Of course I can not definitively put down a number behind my 40 because it may be less (oh god no!) or more (in which case I will need more paper). However, basing it on the average once hitting forty I will have essentially lived half my life (hopefully). This is consuming my thought right now and is freaking me out on many different levels. The idea that I have live for forty year already and it feels like it happened in a flash really flips me out about the second half. It’s also being aware that my parents are getting older and realizing that if my math is correct they are almost through that second half. That is crazy. So basically it's one of those things that provoked me to start this blog journey and to put to ease some of my anxieties. I suppose it's spiritual in a sense.

Anyhow, I know it's not that funny and may in fact freak you all out as well but it's just something I've been thinking about. (Oh, and it's a great fractions lesson if you put various numbers behind the second 40 and let the kids figure out the fraction of time you have left if it's....). (Nervous HEE HEE)

Lise