When I reached age 50 some 18 years ago, I started taking selfies of my face to watch the changes in my face my face between 50 and age 70. I’m not 70 yet but you get the idea. It has been a remarkable journey between 50 and 68. It is also remarkable how different I see the world at 68 – which means the way we think changes as well. Thought is something you cannot always see in a person’s face.
When you are 50, you begin to see old age on the horizon yet believe there’s plenty of time left to go after your dreams. When you are approaching 70, your view of life has changed significantly because some dreams are long out of reach. Dreams you once had have slipped away and reality sets in. So does the math. You have more years behind you and fewer ley ahead. What’s more, you probably cannot afford that dream you had in the crosshairs decades ago.
When we were very young, life stretched out ahead of us in something of an infinity. We just didn’t think about it in a “I’ll think about that tomorrow…” mindset. We just never thought about it. With each passing decade, “it” becomes more near. I hear young people lamenting “I’m gonna be 30!!!” and I have to laugh.
And so you are…
I remember 30. I had just achieved my dream job as an automotive magazine editor and I was on top of the world. I was also quite full of myself. I had been a blue-collar aircraft and refrigeration technician thrust into an editor’s chair with no idea what I was doing. I had a lot to learn. An editor’s chair was a far cry from grabbing tools out of a rollaway. I had to learn fast and did not do very well.
I didn’t know the world was going around. I’d find life had a lot in store for me. Two years later, I’d be divorced, remarried, and on my way to fatherhood with my firstborn. I had a lot to learn. At 68, I still do because you never stop learning unless you choose to. The key to living longer at our ages is to never stop learning not that this is actually going to help you live longer.
Because we are the generation that was never going to grow old, I believe we do a lot of reflecting wondering how we got here. I used to embrace my childhood years in my native Maryland. In more recent times, the mid-1960s have faded into oblivion. It just doesn’t seem the same and doesn’t affect me as emotionally as it once did.
Does this ever happen to you?
I’ve known older folks through the years when you ask them a question and they respond with, “Good Grief – that was 30 years ago!!!” You think – how could you forget something from 30 years ago? At 68, someone will ask me about an event 30 years ago and I respond, “That was 30 years ago!” Deja Vue all over again.
We have met the old folks and they are us!
As each generation passes, the same scenario prevails. When we are young, we don’t trust the generations before us. And – as we pass into senior citizen status, we don’t trust the generations following us. That said – “TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!!!”
Boomer Journey... 