I grew up in the 70s and early 80s and I have many fond memories of that time. Spending weekends by the seaside with my grandparents who were only in their early 50s at the time, building boats and cars together with my granddad who was great with his hands - he could build anything. Spending entire days out in free air, playing by the sea and drinking cocoa and watching M.A.S.H, Soap or Mork & Mindy with my granny in the evenings, granddad still out working.

So today I put together a mix-tape exclusively with Christopher Cross, Captain & Tennille and England Dan and John Ford Coley for my daily walk. Mushy music, certainly, but absolutely perfect for the occasion.

I walked through a nice neighborhood that was built largely in the early 70s, with a lot of architect-drawn modernistic houses. We live in the outskirts of town, and after walking for 15 minutes you’re surrounded only by meadows and hills. I started to think back to my childhood and I went for a short trip back in time. Especially when I left all the houses behind and was surrounded by nature, I was able to leave modern life a little behind for a moment of reflection.

At 35, I begin to realize that nothing lasts forever. I’m gradually losing my grandparents to old age, and I slowly notice that things around me change. In about 7 to 8 years my parents will have retired, my kids are almost teenagers and all of my grandparents will likely be gone. I’m suddenly the man and the age I always used to picture my father to be, if you know what I mean: The working dad, the steady rock right in the middle of the family, or something. My dad turning into the granddad, and so on. All this is inevitable and self-explanatory, but in a sense I feel like I’ve gone from 15 to 35 in just a couple of years.

It’s kind of sad, but also good to think back to the times as they were. After all, I’m incredibly grateful for the life I’ve had so far.

I was out for a couple of hours today, and I feel renewed, once again ready to step up to the challenges of modern life. I have a meeting with the bank later on today. Nothing major, but the preparations I have to go through before this meeting brings me right back down to earth. But my batteries are reloaded, and I’m up for the task.