Liriodendron:
Quote:
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Fifty is a great age for an adventure,
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I think this comes closest to an answer that scratches this itch for me.
Having turned 50 for the first time last year
, it so happened I decided to re-read LotR again to prepare for the last movie installment, RotK. I was quite surprised to see that Frodo was 50 when he set out on the quest to Mt. Doom. I'd read this before, but that was ere I turned the same age myself.
I found strange things starting to happen. I felt drawn to claim myself, to know and to do the things that I'd dreamed of and talked about--to see what was both behind and ahead on the other side of the next eternal hill.
As has been mentioned, by 50 one's dust has settled down. It's possible to see what's still standing and what's fallen by the wayside. It is around this age that the hackneyed and embarrassing phrase "mid-life crisis" is applied. There is a keen awareness that "the" crossroads has been reached. To put it succinctly, this is when you either poop or get off the pot--you're going to start walking or just keep talking. Time for the hair dye or time for the open road? Have you grown fearful of life or have you learned it is an adventure--"Oh, my God!" or "What the hey, why not?"
One is called to the road in the most genuine sense--the path of your life, your meaning--your fate, if you will. I think this is what both Bilbo and Frodo were answering. Bilbo's awareness of his crossroads was piqued by the dwarves' scoffing attitude toward his talents and abilities. Frodo's awareness began innocently enough as he tried to emulate Bilbo, but it was also his chance to try out that adventure dreamt of in youth. Both found themselves transformed by the end of their adventures. And we have the sense that they arrived where they were meant to be. This causes me to think that they, as children of Iluvatar, answered the call put forth to them by Iluvatar.
Maybe for Tolkien it was as simple as "Middle-earth," middle-age. Essentially, Tolkien described it being in the middle of the world. Bilbo and Frodo were essentially in the middle of life.
But I like that crossroads/call of the road myself. That's what happened to me, and it's what happens to just about everybody. In the largest sense, this is when you are called to come to terms with your own Ring.