Category: We baby boomers (Page 15 of 23)

Why it’s great to be a baby boomer.

01/04/2016 /

shutterstock_139285652

Here’s some of the reasons I think it’s great to be a boomer:

  • Feeling at ease in situations that used to cause you anxiety.
  • Remembering Jackie Robinson, Bart Starr, John Havlicek, Bobby Orr, Arnold Palmer and Rod Laver.
  • Smiling at the millennial wearing the tie-dye because you have an original in your closet.
  • Experiencing a resurgence of energy once you finally choose a retirement date.
  • Loving the fact you were alive when man walked on the moon, the Beatles arrived, polio was eradicated, television was born and people wrote letters.
  • Being okay with the fact that you have no idea who that young guy is that’s hosting Saturday Night Live, because you can’t stay up anyway.
  • Understanding more than ever how important it is to be kind to others.
  • Not bothering to ask the  salesperson to not call you “sir” or “ma’am” because it’s not worth it and after all, you’ve earned it.
  • Howdy Doody.  Roy Rogers.  Our Gang.  Johnny Mathis.  Pop Tarts.
  • Having younger people in your profession recognize you as a mentor.
  • Not sweating the small stuff.
  • Loving the fact that vinyl is back…and you still have your original Beatles albums. (or Glenn Miller, Mel Tormé, Buddy Holly, etc.)
  • Polishing your ’55 Chevy and getting ready for the classic car show.
  • Having the self control to not express every thought that comes in your head.
  • Watching reruns of Wyatt Earp and Have Gun, Will Travel.
  • Knowing you have the experience, wisdom and talent to do anything you set your mind to.

What else?   Share what you like about being a boomer….I’d love to know.

 

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”

Satchel Paige

 

 

A New Year of Many Colors

12/28/2015 /

We get many different kinds of gifts at Christmas.  Some we asked for.  Some we really don’t want, but appreciate the effort.  Some are surprises; some are specific answers to requests.

But it’s often the unexpected that really touch our heart.

A friend, someone dealing with all kinds of challenges in her life, left me a gift at my door.  It’s one that I think is setting the tone for my 2016.

It’s one of those (and forgive the fact that I’m not good at this description) garden stakes that absorbs the sunlight, and then later in the dark changes colors.  At the top of this stake is a glass angel. I don’t know how, but it turns blue, green, red, purple…at night, in the dark, after a day of capturing sunlight.

I absolutely love it.

candlesI first noticed it working its magic this evening, which by the time you read this, will be last night or a few nights ago, but it doesn’t matter.  It was a wonderful, unexpected surprise.  Light and color in the blackness.  Beauty piercing the stillness.

I love that it’s so many colors.  And that it bursts through the darkness to shine as bright as any light during the day. I’m thinking it’s a sign of the new year.

We’re in this together.

We are so many colors.  

And the best gift we can give each other is to shine in the darkness. to celebrate the diversity of who we are, and to radiate light for one another.

Like anybody, I’d like my new year to be filled with wellness.  With good income and easy days.  With friends and love and less worry.

But who knows what is ahead…things happen.  Hearts get broken.  Challenges descend without warning.  People we love die.

Yet, could we….as this simple glass angel is doing…project a light for others to follow?  Could we remember that just our presence sometimes is enough to light the life for someone in need?

I hope so.  All I know is seeing this angel so filled with beauty in the blackness of night, fills me with hope.

A new year is coming.  Why not see it as an opportunity to really make a difference…even if it’s just a note, or a hug, or a smile for a stranger?

I’m going to try.  Because life is so short, and can be so hard.

But it also can be so wonderful.

And we have more power than we think to make it so.

Happy New Year…..Happy year of light.

 

“To love beauty is to see light.”     

      Victor Hugo

 

 

 

 

 

 

A boomer’s Christmas List.

12/21/2015 /

Cardinal in the Snow

 

What this boomer would like for Christmas:

  1. To sleep uninterrupted for 8 hours. (I think I did it when I was a teenager, but I can’t remember. )
  2. To be able to open a website without popups asking me if I want to subscribe, give money, or join.
  3. To be able to open a bag of chips without a flame thrower and an axe.
  4. To be able to pass on some well-earned advice about situations that, when you are young, you think will be the toughest things you will ever face. (not)
  5. To eat a few certain cherished cheat foods and not pay the price.
  6. To never see another commercial for Progressive Insurance, Geico Insurance, or Sonic again.
  7. To  walk by a running creek every day.
  8. To understand why so many people are so filled with fear and hate of people who are different from them.
  9. A muzzle for Donald Trump (see above).
  10. To be able to get up from the couch without groaning.
  11. To play tennis with my father again and watch my mother cook dinner again. (And eat it all.)
  12. To write a novel that changes someone’s life…and is published the old-fashioned, authentic, sweat and tears way (agent, publisher).
  13. To sit down to dinner knowing other people have enough to eat and a warm, dry place to sleep.
  14. A cable channel that shows nothing but the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd movies, and reruns of Captain Kangaroo.
  15. Good feet.
  16. A promise that when I go to Heaven, I can go trout fishing with Cory Wells.
  17. To be able to visit The Blues Museum in Memphis much more often and listen to recordings of the greats.
  18. To take my dog for a walk without forgetting something (the leash, plastic bags, keys, water, the dog).
  19. Peace, good health, and hope for all my friends and loved ones, without forgetting that everyone deserves that—regardless of race or religion.
  20. To always remember how blessed I am.
  21. My mother’s macaroni and cheese (see #11).

ribbons_bowTo you and yours, a peaceful, safe, and happy Christmas.

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

      Norman Vincent Peale

Pearl Harbor and Us.

12/07/2015 /

Today is December 7, 2015. Thinking back to December 7, 1941.

From what I have been told, it started out as a beautiful day in Pearl Harbor.

IMG_0192But at 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian time, that quickly changed.

And before it was all over, 2,403 people lost their lives and 1,200 were wounded.  With Pearl Harbor, America was thrown into WWII.

Terrifying. Stunning. Devastating. Rallying.   As a baby boomer, I was not alive then, but my (now late) parents were. I can only imagine the feelings of both vulnerability and patriotism this event evoked in people who previously assumed their world would remain safe.

Not unlike what the 2011 attacks on the World Trade Tours did—reawakened a global resolve to restore some level of peace and order to a turbulent world.

Debates about all the issues will go on forever. But for just a moment, let’s stop and think about what war does to us. Death is not the only result. Fear. Loss of trust. Disorientation about where we fit in the world. Worry over younger members of our family who might be thrown right into its core.   Disruption of our belief system. Rifts with relatives who take the opposite side in political views.  Veterans who can’t receive adequate medical care and live in poverty.

Hate. Sadness. Sorrow.

Why bring this up during the holiday season?

Because not only is the attack on Pearl Harbor a day in history we must remember, it is also a day to honor all the brave men and women who put their lives on the line for us every day. Servicemen and women. Police officers and firefighters. Doctors Without Borders. Ambassadors and missionaries. Foreign correspondents who report from the fighting.   Emergency responders who pull people from flooded cars and rescue beloved pets from rooftops in natural disasters.

IMG_0206In a world filled with so much hate, there is still so much love. There will always be those who hate. But also, there will always be those who are willing to reach out, to accept, to listen, and most importantly, to love.

In 1941, we were mostly united in our fight against those who wished us harm. Today it’s a tougher call, with many innocent souls targeted for their religion, their country of origin, or their desperate desire to escape horrible living conditions.

No easy answers. Except a hope that peace on earth will come someday, for all peoples.   What a gift that would be.

         “Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

                    Seneca

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