Fifty Something Is One

This weekend is the 1-year anniversary of this blog. Seems like a good time to reflect on what I’ve learned during twelve months of writing about Boomer things.

- In the U.S., there are more than 80 million Baby Boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964. The leading edge Boomers are turning 61 this year, including the present President and his predecessor.

- Fifty is today’s forty or thirty, depending who you ask and who you are. We’re not your Daddy’s fifty-somethings. We earn more, spend more, live longer, act and look younger than fifty-somethings of even 10 years ago. We often think we’re even younger than we look, which makes us a bit delusional too.

- Most of us have kids, some have grandkids; I have neither. Roughly half of fifty-somethings are no longer married to our first spouses.

- Those of us who are AARP members rarely admit it. But the discounts are great … uhh, I mean I’ve heard they’re great.

- I have made a few cyber friends during the past year, most of whom are younger than Boomer age. Thanks for your visits, inspiration and attention; I’d love to meet you face to face some time.

- Two people inspired me to get started with this. Melanie, a dear friend and Boomer who has been in and out of my life for thirty-three years (I’ve lost track of her again) and Diner Girl, a Gen-Xer friend I’ve known for fourteen months and who I can’t thank enough for her contribution to the project we work on together on a regular basis.

A key observation I’ve made during the past year: ageism and age obsession definitely exist in Boomerville and maybe we did this to ourselves. My own age group rebelled against our elders with the warning, “don’t trust anyone over 30.” A popular Who song from our youth says, “hope I die before I get old.” (The singer of that lyric just turned 63 and still tours).

We find ourselves with fewer older role models sharing wisdom and experience and our youth worship interferes with career opportunity at the very same point in time when we are most able to work longer. Has our obsession with youth backfired on us?

I work in the media and we are probably guilty of expanding our society’s youth obsession. My company does not do anything obvious regarding age but they are probably guilty of silent ageism, perhaps the worst kind. There are about 200 employees in my collection of eight radio stations and my best guess counts only eleven who are older than 50. Of that eleven, only seven of us live in front of a microphone.

Many readers of this blog are Gen-Xers who have said on their blogs that they “feel old” because they are now in their 30s or 40s. That tells me that 50 is still a benchmark for “old” and sometimes I catch myself feeling that way too.

My personal fear about being halfway through my 50s is that I have nearly half a life yet to live, but no clear guide to lead the way. In my youth the path was painfully simple: school, job, marriage, kids, retirement, nursing home. Boomers have changed the rules up to the point of redefining retirement, but the next road sign says Sharp Curve Ahead.

I’m optimistic about our future and my future, but there is a little voice deep inside my brain that says “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Sometimes that is a scary voice.