This week's column

Warning: Read at your own risk, a reality of aging may follow
I was living my life, oblivious to a reality I didn’t want to face. I went through daily life happily in the dark about a milestone that was happening without my knowledge.

This was until this season’s “Dancing with the Stars” and my friend Madge posted a fact I would have rather not known as her Facebook status.

In November, Ralph Macchio turns 50. What? It can’t be.

Then the reality set in. It was undeniable. The people in the posters lining my walls in the 1980s are now getting old.

I tried really hard to deny it and then I did the unthinkable. I went to the cursed Google, the source for the world’s useless knowledge. Google confirmed not only will Macchio be 50 but next month Michael J. Fox turns 50.

“Gasp,” I thought. “It can’t be.”

The posters of these two young men at the time, papered my walls. Forget Bieber and Pattinson of today, Macchio and Fox were two of the heartthrobs of my day.

I was first introduced to Macchio in “The Outsiders.” Ah, the classic tale of the greasers and soces with the heart stabbing ending with the death of my favorite star. Then, oh yes, then he was “The Karate Kid.” Twice we got to see Daniel-san beat the odds and use the famous karate crane move. I have to confess I tried the move several times and in my clumsiness the attempts resulted in many bruises.

Like many of the teens today watching some modern heartthrob, I would watch anything Macchio was in including “Teachers” and “Crossroads.” Years later he appeared in “My Cousin Vinny” and then he kind of dropped out of sight until DWTS.

Through DWTS we saw him complain every week of knee problems and back aches associated with his age.

Then there was Fox. While I watched him on “Family Ties” he showed up on my wall after he appeared as Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” series. I wasted a lot of time watching many of his movies that followed as well. Yes, even “Teen Wolf,” which I think I at one time owned on VHS.

The same friend who keeps letting me know which stars are hitting the half century mark sent me a link that read “40 things that will make you feel old.” Yes they made me feel old. It included statements like what the kids on shows 20 years ago look like now and how old the guys in all the boy bands are now. Not funny Madge, not funny at all.

So yes, as I celebrated a birthday last week, and no it wasn’t one of the big ones, I thought about how things, including myself, are growing old.

In the words of the great Bilbo Baggins, “I’m old … I know I don’t look it, but I’m beginning to feel it in my heart.”

Another friend posted on Facebook that “Top Gun” was released 25 years ago. Where did the time go? And someone tell me why music from the 1980s is now playing on oldies stations.

What blows my mind most is it will be time for a 20 year high school reunion next year. Really? Seriously? I feel a bit faint.

There’s one solace to this aging story. When I was discussing all the heartthrobs turning 50 a coworker asked, “What about Kirk Cameron?” Don’t worry, Mike, from “Growing Pains,” is not quite as bad. He’s only 40.
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