"Let's drink to that and the passing time"

I am turning 40. It's not a complete surprise to me that I am reaching this milestone, and I am unutterably glad that I did not have the proper assistance to leave off at 39 and six months, but it's still a little weird to consider that I have reached an age I remember my friends' parents being when I thought I was an adult already.  

I was born before people walked on the Moon, when I was a baby lock-knit cotton stretch-n-grows were high-tech and all nappies were washable. As a child I went to Star Wars in the original theatre release, played Zork, D&D and Traveller, and no-one's kitchen had a dishwasher, microwave oven, or any silicon implements. As a teenager I was deeply ashamed of the 1981 Springbok Tour, personally affronted by the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, wore a pink triangle badge to support the Homosexual Law Reform Bill and seriously argued the relative merits of Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. I was at university back when education was free and unemployment was rising on a spring tide. 

Things have changed, but I still don't have my jet pack.