The Art of Aging...Well

As the pandemic hit in 2020, many of us baby boomers were shocked we were considered "elderly." No, we weren't elderly; we were the "New Pepsi Generation!" We were the youth of the 60s and would live forever. Elderly? No way we were elderly. Our PARENTS were elderly.

When my grandmother was in her 80s, she was on the phone with a doctor's office receptionist, who asked, "Are you elderly?" Gramma answered with bewilderment, "Well, I'm not yet 90...."

And yet here were are, hitting our 70s, thinking we will live to be 150 years old as we are still "middle aged." Seems there should be something between 50s and 90s--between middle-aged and elderly--to describe the current baby boomer generation.  But no. We are aging hippies and aging business people and aging grand parents...you know. Aging.

We get called "Boomers," a pejorative term implying that our opinions are out of touch and outdated. Outdated! We created this world. I mean, we have danced using transistor radios, boom boxes, 4- and 8-track players, CD players, MP3s and streaming music. We've watched black and white televisions, color televisions, remote control televisions, rabbit-eared televisions, streaming television. We created the Internet! We swung from trees, drank from hoses, and rode our bikes all over without parental tracking. And here we are "Booming."

Some people are just laying around, being old. Some people are running around jumping out of airplanes and dead-lifting at the gym. Some people are getting face lifts, arm lifts, boob lifts, butt lifts. Some people are letting all those wrinkles and cottage-cheese skin bumps come along for the ride. Some of us are forgetting we are aging and continue being whatever we are being. 

We are trying to figure out how to live with the aches and the pains that can come with growing older. We are trying to not be our parents--they were always out of touch, weren't they? But as we grew older, they grew smarter, didn't they?

I don't have the answer of how to lose my slot in the New Pepsi Generation, the best way to move through this middle-part before I, like Gramma, turn 90; therefore, elderly. So I guess I will simply continue to be that sometimes weird aging-hippie flower child who takes some ibuprofen every day in order to move around better, watches old episodes of Perry Mason, and enjoys life best I can. Yeah, guess that'll do for now.

and so it goes
peace~~~