On the Precipice of 40:

A New Chapter Awaits

I sit here on the precipice of 40. That phrase alone feels like a cliche, like something I would have rolled my eyes at ten years ago and that would make my daughters cringe. It’s a tad dramatic, overly self-aware, and perhaps unnecessarily poetic. But now, it feels right. I'm not spiraling into a full-blown midlife crisis. I'm not secretly searching for a convertible on Ebay or getting hair plugs or googling “how to become sigma.” But I can feel the inevitable march of time and it feels like it is speeding up. Like a convertible that’s just crested the hill and is now gaining momentum on the way down.

I swear, I was 27 staring into the bright blue eyes of our first daughter just a few months ago (I’ll tell you that story someday). I was young, still figuring things out, still living under the illusion that I had all the time in the world. Lately, I’ve felt that illusion slip (maybe having kids does that). I notice how fast the calendar pages turn. I watch my kids grow taller, more independent, more like themselves and less like little extensions of me. I hear songs from “back in my day” now playing on Alt2K the “alternative hits” radio. One of my daughter’s keeps asking me about when everything was in black and white in the 1900s. My shoulder hurt for three straight days because I had the audacity to sleep on it.

Time isn’t marching. It is running. And if I’m not careful, without warning, another decade will become a blur.

Instead of mourning that, I want to mark it. Not with a crisis. Rather with a challenge.

I don’t need a shiny sports car or a new haircut or to pretend I’m 27 again. What I want is a challenge. Some kind of intentional adventure to match this new chapter I’m stepping into. I love planning (I’m a planner by trade) and I enjoy a good spreadsheet.

So I made one. Well actually, I made three:
50 States Before 50.
50 National Parks Before 50.
10 Disney Parks Before 50.

Three goals. Ten years. Here we go!

Two smiling young girls, one with glasses, posing with an American girl doll in front of a tall window overlooking the Chicago skyline with many buildings and skyscrapers.

Let’s start with the simplest one. I was blessed and had the privilege to travel internationally when I was younger. I visited over 10% of the world (based on countries visited) or about 23 countries predominantly in Europe and North America but a few trips to Asia as well. However, I haven’t prioritized seeing everything that The United States has to offer. So, I would like to see all 50 States.

This has been a goal of mine in the back of my mind for years like an episode of Law & Order that you have playing in the background when cooking dinner. I’ve made good progress without even trying. Work trips, weddings, random vacations — they’ve carried me to probably 26 states already.

But there’s a difference between visiting a place and truly experiencing it. Plus, I want to experience it with my family. I don’t want to count a layover in Atlanta or a childhood drive through Kansas where I never left the highway but we did see a sign for a 5 legged cow (I wonder if that roadside attraction is still there). I want a memory with my family tied to each state. It might be a coffee shop, a hike, or a sunset.

50 States Before 50

Amanda and the girls sitting on a bench inside Peggs, a cafe, smiling and enjoying drinks.

Some States will be easy to visit. Others will require effort and planning (opening an excel spreadsheet to plan out a trip to North Dakota). Alaska will take even more planning but that’s the point. I want to stretch myself. I want to fill a map with pins and stories and reminders that I didn’t let the decade slip past unnoticed.

Maybe we’ll eat lobster on a foggy dock in Maine or a powdery beignet in Louisiana (I might need to stop for a snack as all my references are food related).

I want it all. I want the quiet towns and the loud cities. The long drives and the early flights. The cool VRBOs and the unexpectedly amazing local diners. I want to stand in every corner of this country and say: “I was here.”

James and the girls on Second Beach with large rocks and ocean waves, overcast sky, and distant sea stacks.

50 National Parks Before 50

This one feels more ambitious.

There are currently 63 official U.S. National Parks. That number has changed in recent years with the additions of Parks like Indiana Dunes, New River Gorge, and Gateway Arch, maybe they’ll add more in the next decade. But my goal is 50 of them before I hit 50.

We will get stamps in our passport and photos for Instagram. But the main goal is to sit in awe of these natural beauties. It’s about perspective. Sitting next to a grove of ancient trees and feeling insignificant in the best way.

Maybe we’ll see the northern lights in Voyageurs National Park. Or stand beneath the trees in Sequoia that were already old when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

Throughout my childhood, I was deeply involved in Scouting with the Boy Scouts of America. In 2002, I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Nature has been one of the few things that reliably resets me. It pulls me out of my daily doom scroll, my list of tasks, my constant mild-level anxiety about the future. And these parks are the pinnacle and our country’s gift. I want to receive that gift and share the experience with my family.  

Four girls in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, posing with hands under chins, smiling, under a clear blue sky.

10 Disney Parks Before 50

I want to visit at least 10 Disney parks before I turn 50. These places are crafted in a way that speaks to something deep in me. I notice the little things. Themed trash cans unique to every land. The way a ride queue like Mickey’s Runaway Railway sets the tone before you even step on the ride. The layered storytelling in places like Galaxy’s Edge, where every corner, sound effect, and cast member is part of the world. It’s an intentional, immersive design. And I love it.

But it’s not just my appreciation that draws me in. It’s seeing it through my kids’ eyes. Their first ride on Big Thunder Mountain. Character breakfasts, Fantasmic, mid-day snack breaks that turn into core memories. Some incredible family moments come from these shared experiences, where we’re all equally in awe or laughing or screaming on a ride together.

If you haven’t realized already, I enjoy the mix of planning and play. The thrill of mapping out and relentlessly optimizing a rope drop strategy, or mobile ordering everyone’s favorite snack. But I also love the spontaneous moments: catching fireworks with a churro in hand, an unplanned spin on Astro Orbitor at 11 PM, or stumbling upon a character we didn’t expect to see.

And at Disney it’s easy to embrace the whimsy. The weird, nostalgic, over-the-top joy of it all. I post trash can roundups and parade clips without irony. I sing along in the Tiki Room. I wait in line to meet characters. I wear the ears. Because here's the truth: Disney, for me, is a creative recharge. Life is full of decisions, deadlines, responsibilities, and real-world weight. But walking into a park where storytelling and wonder are the point? That resets something inside me. It reminds me how good it feels to just be delighted. To be surprised. To be transported.

Right now, there are 12 Disney parks around the world across six resorts:

Disneyland (California)
California Adventure (California)
Magic Kingdom (Florida)
EPCOT (Florida)
Hollywood Studios (Florida)
Animal Kingdom (Florida)
Disneyland Paris
Walt Disney Studios Park (Paris)
Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo DisneySea
Hong Kong Disneyland
Shanghai Disneyland

I don’t need to do them all (though I wouldn’t complain if I did). But 10? That feels like the sweet spot.

I’ve already hit a few. I’ll hit more with family vacations. And maybe — just maybe — I’ll make an epic international trip or two before 50 rolls around. A once-in-a-lifetime birthday at Tokyo DisneySea? A Christmas trip to France that includes Disneyland Paris? Who knows?

Turnwalds at Goofy's Kitchen, all posing in front of a colorful spring-themed backdrop with flowers and kitchen decorations.

Why am I doing this?

You can call it a “bucket list.” I’ll just call them challenges.

Challenges to live. To choose experiences over mundane chores. To make time, not wait for it. To be curious and bold and silly and intentional. To not just drift through this next decade checking off work deadlines and grocery lists and folding laundry. I’ve always joked that on my death bed, I will never look back and say something like, “I wish I had mowed the lawn more” or “I wish I had folded more laundry”.

Those things will still happen (and I will occasionally share them). Life is life. But these challenges will be a thread running through it. Something personal. And maybe, something that ends up meaning more to the people I love, too. I hope my kids see these trips and learn to love the world more. I hope they learn that adventure doesn’t need to stop just because you’re not in your 20s anymore.

Ten years. Three challenges. Dozens of maps and trail guides and theme park tickets plus so many Excel spreadsheets ahead.

Thanks for listening and I hope you follow along,

James

A scenic landscape of Maui showing a foreground of green bushes and trees on a hillside, a middle ground of cultivated farmland, and a distant view of mountains and coastline under a clear sky at sunset.