Tag: boomers (Page 10 of 15)

Outer space again?

06/29/2015 /

Do you remember Alan Shepard’s first ride into space?  John Glenn orbiting the earth?  If you are a boomer or beyond, chances are the answer is yes.

Did you used to wonder  how these guys squeezed into that tiny spacecraft and went that high into space?

And what about that monkey on the cover of Life magazine?

file6331336405853If you did, you might be like me and also remember the rush you got when you watched all this.  Astronauts were the ultimate thrill-seekers.  It was so cool to imaging a human being in the heavens zipping past the stars and looking down at earth.  Splashdowns were tense and exciting.  Spacewalks filled me with awe.  It looked so beautiful up there, the sunlight reflecting off their helmets and the panoramic shots of earth.

And when the first men man it to the moon…I was riveted to every detail.  Was it really possible?

Would a giant one-eyed monster walk over the crater and eat the camera?  

Even now, I can see footage of it all, and still be filled with awe.  I love watching NOVA, StarTalk and any other program about space.  It’s never going to be old-hat for me.  I actually feel sorry for those below boomer age who just take it for granted.

I remember when the first Space Shuttle landed.  I was working in a university and walked over to the student center where the televisions were so I could see it live.  I just couldn’t get over how something that had gone that high was going to come down and land on a landing strip.  The room was crowded, mainly with college-age students.  When the Shuttle landed, they didn’t really react.  Some weren’t even watching.

But those of us of a certain age were shaking our heads in wonder, holding our breaths through the whole experience.  Wow!  They made it!  I looked around and realized it was a thrill that younger people could appreciate, but not really “get”.  Too bad.

These days we (or at least the scientists) know so much more about the universe.  We put a giant telescope up there, then went up and repaired it so that it could send amazing photographs back to us.  We demoted Pluto but discovered so many more bodies up there.  Black holes were the thing.  Then negative energy.  It’s still so incredible to me.  I love listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about the cosmos.

file1201299305649Yet I think it’s kind of deflating that our space program is so stagnant, and that our astronauts and scientists have to “hitch a ride” with the Soviet space station if they want to get up there.

It’s a loss of challenge, achievement, and excitement for us all in so many ways.  So many amazing things came from those years of early space exploration.

Satellite TV.

Velcro.

Smoke detectors.

Ear thermometers.

Scratch-resistant glasses.

Home blood pressure kits.

Who knows what new wonders could be discovered if we decided to once again, set a goal in the heavens?

I miss it.  I want to think that before I leave this planet, I’ll get to see an amazing expedition to another one. I’m not ready to be a passenger in a rocket…I’ll leave that to someone with better equilibrium.  But I think the Starship Enterprise was on to something…

 

“Space has again made children of us all.”

Ray Bradbury

 

“Live long and prosper.”

     Spock

 

 

 

Leaving the nest—and taking wing.

06/22/2015 /

There’s a hollow gourd hanging on my front porch with a hole in it, making it the perfect choice for a bird couple looking for a cozy, comfortable, fixer-upper and shield against wind and rain.

The first tenants were a precious pair of mountain chickadees who worked furiously to make it theirs…bringing small twigs and grasses and stray balls of animal hair into the hole. Then Nature intervened as it always does, and a feisty wren threw them out, bags and all. I couldn’t figure out why I kept seeing all the twigs all over the floor of my porch. Then I looked up and watched as the tiny wren pushed the furnishings through the hole and peeked out, daring anyone to intervene.

IMG_0887Wrens are cute. Their song is beautiful. But they are not to be messed with.

So in the weeks that followed, things progressed, and soon there was a lot of chirping going on. I occasionally would see Mama wren bring in bits of food to her brood. Very Disneyesque.

Then it got ugly again.

One day, two smaller wrens sat on the rain of my porch squawking endlessly….flapping their tiny wings in pure terror. Looking up, Mama wren was sticking her head out of the hole in the gourd with a fierce look that said, “No room here. Go out on your own. My job’s done.” Each offspring would attempt to fly back into the gourd only have to have Mom promptly shove them off.

Party’s over.

Time to the leave the nest.

Time to get on with your life.

It made me think of how each of us goes through this rite of passage, whether it’s physically leaving home, losing our parents, or just mentally separating and becoming an adult. Some of us spend time as caregivers and the roles get reversed…yet he is still our father, and she is still our mother.

And when they are both gone, it’s quite shocking how different it feels.

No matter what our age is. Suddenly, we’re grown up. As a friend put it, “Now there’s no one between me and the sun.”

Both of my parents are gone, and there are periods of time when I don’t think of them. But there are days when it feels like they are standing right next to me. So many times I’d like to show my Mother something. Or ask my Father for advice. It’s hard.

And I can only imagine how hard it was for them when I left home and became independent.

DSC_0066Cutting ties is what we do (at least most of us). It’s what all of Nature does. It’s not easy, and I don’t think it’s meant to be. Adulthood is hard and you might as well get that message early on.

We all know people who just expect things to go easily, and who seem shocked when they don’t. Then they get resentful. And often, they hold that resentment their entire life. (And everyone they come into contact with pays for it.) So the waiter gets stiffed. The cab driver gets disrespected. The homeless person on the corner gets a dirty look.

As boomers and beyond, we’ve seen so many changes in our lives. We watched Howdy Doody. We saw man go into space. We ate TV dinners. We probably played in the neighborhood after school and didn’t get chauffeured to soccer, recitals, or play dates. We got very excited when the ice cream man came around in the afternoons.

Things are different now. And while we can hold on to our memories, there are some things we might have to let go of. Because as cozy as it might be, we can’t stay in that gourd forever. If we do, we’ll miss out on so much.

I don’t think it’s too late to let your life take wing. In fact, I think now is the perfect time.

Where have you never been, that you yearn to go?

What adventure calls to you?

What have you always wanted to say to a lifelong friend?

As the late motivational speaker and author Leo Buscaglia always used to say, the time is now. Stop waiting for the right moment.

Why not today?

“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.”

     Leo Buscaglia

 

Thoughts on marriage.

06/11/2015 /

Someone in my family has just celebrated a wedding anniversary. 42 years.

I think that’s amazing, because it seems like you just don’t hear about that very often. Maybe it’s happening all the time and it just doesn’t make news, while celebrity messages of 18 months grab the headlines.

To me, any couple that achieves a milestone like that is to be applauded, supported, and even studied. Obviously they didn’t go into it thinking everything was always going to be rosy. They understood there would be challenges and conflicts and bad days.

Yet they built a foundation that was strong enough to survive it all.

file0001556941298I’m wondering if that’s a lost art these days. We live in a very disposable society. If the phone acts up, no worries, a new one comes out next year. If you get bored with your car, well go get another one. Animal shelters are filled with dogs and cats that someone decided they didn’t really want after all.

And then there’s social media. How many relationships go sour over Facebook? How many people break up with each other over Twitter, or even more sadistically, via a text?

Where’s the glue that used to help keep couples together long enough to achieve an extended warranty?

It sure seems like couples from WWII and the 1950s stayed together longer. There just weren’t as many options for taking off, starting over, and tossing away a relationship.

Or did the movies just make us think things lasted longer…and were happier?

People are definitely marrying at older ages than they did back in the 1930s and 1940s. These days, a first marriage that ends in divorce usually lasts about 8 years. The good news more people aged 55 and older are getting remarried. Not surprisingly, men are more interested in doing this than women, maybe because studies show men enjoy more health benefits from marriage than women.

Still, I think instead of being so consumed with the latest headlines about who is cheating on whom and which Hollywood couple just made the front page and so on and so on, we should be lauding those who stay together. Through lost jobs. Sleepless nights with a newborn. In-laws. Forgotten birthdays. Recliners and football games. Tears, arguments, and disappointments.

Those who trekked through it all and made it to moments of joy, togetherness, support, fun, and friendship.

Here’s a few odd  stats about marriage:

  • A certain sheikh and his bride decided to have a big wedding—at $100 million dollars, it holds the record for the most expensive one ever (so far).
  • The oldest couple to divorce (according to the Guinness Book of World Records) had been married 36 years. Both were 98 when they divorced.
  • The shortest Hollywood marriage on record was between Rudolph Valentino and Jean Acker. She apparently changed her mind during the service and then locked her husband out of the honeymoon suite.
  • One of the longest marriages on record lasted 86 years, only ending with the death of the husband at the age of 106.

DSC02400I want to believe boomers are pretty good at sticking together. I want to believe that love prevails. I also know that sometimes the healthiest and best thing is for a couple to part ways, and there’s no shame in that. None of us knows what goes on behind closed doors and when it’s over, it’s over. I certainly don’t have a success story to tell in matters of the heart.

But to those of you who still look at each other over the morning cereal bowl after 30, 40, 50, 60 years and beyond: congratulations! You are the true celebrities.

 

“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”

       Ruth Bell Graham

Taking up golf again

06/08/2015 /

As boomers we often find ourselves either with more time to pursue hobbies old and new, or we get this insatiable urge to do the things we’ve never done.  Or re-learn all the things we tried many, many years ago.  The consequences of this can be painful.  Entertaining.  Hysterical.

And in some cases, downright dangerous.

DSC_0075Some suddenly decide it’s time to zip line.  Or rollerblade (please remember the helmet). Others play it safe and start a walking regimen, or settle for something tamer like cleaning out the garage.  (Even that can have its risks.)

Me, I decided to once again “take up” golf.  Not sure what “take up” means…but in my case, it could be an accurate description of what happens to the driving range turf when I hit fat.  I had let 20 years pass since I had been on a real golf course, and at least a few since I had stepped on a driving range.  I was nervous and self-conscious.  I can report that I did not injure anyone, either standing near me or in the parking lot.

I actually even made contact with the ball a few times.

Gosh, Arnold Palmer (my all-time favorite golfer) sure made it look easy.

Then a friend suggested we take a few golf lessons together with a course professional.  Wow, what a difference it makes to actually hear directions from someone who knows what they are doing.  He told me what I needed to hear:  head down, stay on the balls of my feet, follow through, and so on.  In fact, I had so much good info in my brain that I found it difficult to take a step.  But I started to absorb it….concentrate, practice, and build that famous muscle memory.

Of course some days you can’t do anything right.

You hit fat and kill the grass.

You pull your head up too soon and miss everything, sure everyone on the driving range line is watching and thinking, “Isn’t that sad.  She didn’t seem that uncoordinated.”

You grip the club tighter and get tense and then you do hit the ball…sideways.  (Fore!)

Yet, you persevere.  And when you actually put it all together and hit the ball correctly…and it goes up and out and straight and right into that bright blue sky…don’t you feel proud to be alive!  Why, this game isn’t so hard!  What was I so afraid of?

Until your next swing, when once again, you are rearranging the ground below you.

file000658349501Turns out I thought had always been playing (!) with women’s clubs, but I was informed they  were way heavier than modern women’s clubs, and in fact, might even have been men’s clubs.  So I ventured out for new ones…nothing fancy, just a decent set that is light and made for women.  This will really help my game, I thought.  Then I tried them, and first time, couldn’t hit worth a dang.  My excuse was I had a cold and didn’t feel good.

Like anything, golf comes with attachments.  Does your bag have a stand?  Do you have covers for your woods?  Do you have a cart to roll your bag around?  Did you remember to get tees and balls?  Are there enough pockets in your bag for water, a jacket, keys, and a towel?  (They say the towel is to wipe off your clubs.  I think it’s for wiping your tears away.)

One thing is for sure:  usually, no one is watching.  No one cares how bad you are.  No one is laughing when your ball goes three feet.  As long as you play fast and get out of their way, they don’t care if you kill a duck with your drive.

I wish I was better.  But I’m still enjoying getting up to speed.  And I think being a baby boomer gives me a  big advantage:  I’m just out there for fun, because despite what Mark Twain said, I think golf is a great way to breathe some outside air, feel the breeze, and just think about only one thing. Or is that five things.  I forget.

And I don’t need a helmet.

“I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game:  it’s called an eraser.”

Arnold Palmer

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