> So is this the famous mid-life crisis everyone talks about?

It sure sounds like it. Regarding "buying a Harley" I think that can act as a shorthand for "realizing life is short and doing something for yourself now that you have the means and while you can enjoy it", which is a good idea in my opinion.

Oh, life is far too short for a Harley. Buy a Ducati or something. ;)

No seriously though the other reason 35-year-olds buy a motorcycle or convertible or similar pleasure vehicle is that they actually can afford it, unlike new grads just out of school? (I differentiate the pleasure vehicle from the utility vehicle; if you buy a little 125cc motorcycle as a car-alternative for zooming around town that's quite different than the speed machines, or the massive touring motorcycles that get SUV-grade gas mileage.)

Anyway, this is one of the positive parts of middle age — maybe you're not actually rich, but you're usually much better off then you were in your twenties, might have a good start on a home or a retirement, and can afford a few personal luxuries, or children.

In earlier decades, the mid-life crisis years were likely also about the time most parents' kids had either just left the house, or would very soon. If you have a kid at 20, they're (hopefully) leaving at 38....

> If you have a kid at 20, they're (hopefully) leaving at 38....

The "(hopefully)" is interesting! Living in an Arabic country and having many Mediterranean colleagues I recently started to appreciate that different cultures have a very different point of view on when kids should leave their parents house. For them it is perfectly normal to stay with their parents until the age of 25-30, while e.g. in Germany this would be considered quite weird already.

Protagonist: "Life is short, I'll buy a motorcycle"

Narrator: "And his life just got shorter"

Midlife crisis is when you realize that 'midlife crisis' was a lie and there's nothing 'mid' about it, and that you have only 10-20 more years left of denying that you are mortal.

I don't mind dying really and I am in my 40s and haven't accomplished much of what I wanted. However, my life is getting better and better. Better job, better pay, working from home, got a few cats that are amazing for stress and bought a new place for me. As I love to learn new things everyday, life is just getting better and better.

I speak only for myself, but the closest thing I've felt to a 'mid-life crisis' (I'm 48 now) is more of a realization that there are a number of life choices that I can no longer make because they simply aren't available to someone at my stage in life. If I dwell on them, I feel a bit sad. I suspect some people try to grab something that serves as a talisman of those lost opportunities and cling to it for a bit, and this is the manifestation of their mid-life crisis.