— by Lin McNulty —
The first Baby Boomers turn 70 this year? Are you kidding me? Nobody ever told me Baby Boomers would get old.
Who was it that said, “If you can remember the 60s, then you weren’t there.” Well, I do remember the 60s and I can now remember being 60; seems like only yesterday. But today, on the 70th anniversary of the first baby boomer(s) being born, I, too, turn 70.
I am among the first of the seventy-six million American children born between 1945 and 1964.
I can remember walking with a book on my head and wearing white gloves so that I would become a proper young woman. Then, this subtle, yet monumental paradigm shift occurred and women were going braless.
Newspapers published stories about the new generation, like they were fearful. The idea of being a part of the out of control teens was exciting and empowering.
The first sign of actual aging was when an application for AARP arrived in the mail at age 50.
Boomers still tend to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that came before. My best friend throughout my school years had a birthday two weeks before me; she’s not a boomer. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric about the change they were bringing about.
In researching stats and facts, it now seems the latest concern for boomers is end-of-life issues. No way. I’m still a hippie.
I am with you, Lynn. I still see myself as the same as I was back then. And when a stranger offers me a seat, I still look behind me to find the old person to whom the offer was made. …. although of late, I am more prone to take the seat! Funny how times change, and yet they don’t.
PS Congratulations on your birthday!!
Congratulations! I am a few years further into the Baby Boom. I still am amazed at the drastic changes I experienced as a college student between 1966 (when we were required to wear skirts or dresses to dinner and the library, and to sign in and out of the dorm in the evening–to return before midnight), and 1968 (when we all wore jeans and workshirts and could have men in our dorm rooms). Interesting times.
Lin, I was 75 last March 31. 75 is the new middle age. I intend to hit 100. Happy Birthday
Always remember, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”.
Make it a good one !!
I take my philosophy about aging from Jimmy Buffett:
“Growing older but not up.”
And yes, I am a “boomer.”