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A Birthday Interview with a Baby of the Baby-Boomers

Shelley

With optimism, here’s a slightly different type of post from the perspective of a formerly high-risk for viruses baby boomer who lived to be 56 today! 

I recently (just 10 minutes ago, while pouring my first cup of coffee) interviewed myself on my birthday (aka, today).  I hadn’t even been up 15 minutes and my mind was racing. 

What’s my current birthday status? 

A petite female and with a gamine body type (more on that in another post, describing the rabbit hole that took me on . . .) still snuggled in her jammies and robe, with way too long graying hair tossed about, all willy-nilly like, ready for this year of ultra prime-time living.

I’ve opted to share the interview with my thoughts, with you, my lucky readers about what it’s like to turn 56 in the year 2020.  The year the toilet paper rolls shrunk.  And I have rolls to prove it.  

How did the interview go?  We’ll see – it’s streaming now.  

What things did I find optional about my 55th year?  

Shopping in person instead of online.  Duh, that’s what I talked about in my last post.  That lead to many gifts, in more ways than one.  I didn’t go Black Friday shopping.  I MISSED doing that and my daughters SO MUCH!  But I did return in-person one of the backpacks (kept the two-tone one) when I picked up another online order during the Saturday sales.  On a side note, it really didn’t look much different from other years of shopping on Saturday following Thanksgiving.  Except for masks and social distancing.  

What do I wish I would’ve done more of that made my heart sing in my 55th year?

Oh, that’s easy, I wish I had played more with my camera.  Prior to waking this morning, I started dreaming about how much fun I used to have with it.  And realized that I need to do that more.  Somehow.  Someway.  Dare I wish for a Cyber Monday purchase? 

Probably, not, we’ll see.

What gift did I get for my birthday that reminds me of this past year? 

It wasn’t really an intentional birthday gift, it was more of a “Thinking of You” gift that had a bunch of balloons with “Happy Birthday” in it.  It arrived on November 1st, early in my birthday month.  They were so taught, firm and plump. 

Full of hot air and happiness and youthfulness.  And now they are sagging and droopy, kind of like me and my oh so gentle aging skin, that seems more noticeable to me since I lost weight this year.  I’ll probably opt into fully deflating the balloons soon.  I have enough reminders of sags in other places.  

What gift did I get that I didn’t ask for and didn’t think I’d ever get here in the blogosphere?

I received an alternative perspective on baby boomers from a reader’s comment that I frankly didn’t see the need to officially reply to.  It made me think.  I remember being young and a know-it-all, and you know what, that comment is just plain BS and only deserves to find its way out of my life. 

But, first, I’ll comment. 

I believe I know a heck of a lot more than I did 30 years ago.  The only difference now, versus back then, is that we baby boomers didn’t have the wherewithal in social media outlets to dis our elders incognito.  We respected the great GI and Silent generations and we were smart enough to change the world for a better place.  LOL – sounds familiar right?  Well, apparently, we elected a Silent Generation and a Baby Boomer leader to run the country, so if pah contributed to those currently unconfirmed votes, “Welcome to the new normal world Pal, as in every administration, time will tell how it all will work out.”  

Oh, my, yikes, I never rant like that!  Do tell more, what did the comment say? 

I’ll show you – before I deleted it into the deserving spot of SPAM forever, I took a screenshot of it to ponder more. 

It looks like the photo is quite small, so here are pah’s words of wisdom:  “baby boomers are going to get abused and treated like garbage in the retirement homes.  Maybe you boomers shouldn’t have been so selfish and arrogant and greedy.  Literally, everyone hates baby boomers now.  Enjoy those retirement homes, and good luck, boomers!”

Wow – is anything true about the comment?  

Yeah, the Gen-X and Millennials make up a large portion of the workforce working as caregivers for the older generations living in care facilities and assisted livings.  There are many, not all, who have a different work ethic than those living there.  Apparently, pah knows that it takes one to know one on how they may be treating those living in ‘retirement’ homes? 

Is there anything untrue about the comment?  

Well, according to reliable sources like CNN, the Baby Boomer generation peaked in 1999 with 78.8 million, including those who immigrated to the US between 1946 and 1964.  The baby boomers are no longer outnumbering the other generations, thanks in part this year to the virus.  In 2014, there were 83.1 million millennials compared to 75.4 million baby boomers, representing a quarter of the nation’s population.  Those younger generations better get their act together and figure out how to care for the aging population before they’re sitting there themselves at 50-60-70-80-90-100-something shaking their finger at the younger generations thinking, “You have no idea what you’re talking about kiddo.”

What did you learn this year that makes you a better person?  

Yikes, way to snap me back to reality.    

Am I a better person?  I dunno?  I struggled this year.  I mean I really struggled. 

So much of this year just didn’t or doesn’t make sense to me.  I miss normal more than I ever thought possible.  I’d opt for a retake or rewind to do better.  Nah, who am I kidding?  I don’t want to go back and relive it.  But I persevered and made it to 56.  

I got healthier, mostly – there were a few months of drinking way too much wine to drown out my sorrows.  I’m better now, not 100% dry, but better.  At least I feel the difference and know that I prefer sober more than not.  Mr. and I also lost weight and are overall healthier than we started the year out as.  And you can enjoy Keto cooking, with a side of naughty for you Lefse on Thanksgiving.  

A dear friend said about living healthy in a year of a pandemic, (or I saw it in a meme somewhere?)

Do your best to be tough to kill.

So yeah, I’m living with a strong and healthy heart, carrying my body around easier at a healthy weight.  I do live a life that keeps me alive and out of assisted living where some pah may not want to take care of me.  So that gives me options for a better outlook to live my 56th year to the fullest.  

What famous words of wisdom shall I lead my life with going forward?  

With optimism, I share I’m excited to embrace 56 and see what this year blesses us with.  Words of wisdom that come to mind are from a newly discovered way to read free books on my kindle from the library!  The book is titled, Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life by Kent Nerburn.

Kent quoted a friend’s words of wisdom, “Everything lives, everything dies, everything leans to the light.” 

The feature photo above is the Peace Lily plant gifted to our family when my mom passed away in a memory care facility in 2012.  I’m sure she’d opt-in on the argument against the pahs of the world – she was indeed well taken care of.  Thank you to all the front-line caregivers and healthcare workers – you are true heroes!

Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “opt.” Use it as a word or find a word with “opt” in it and base your post on that. Have fun!   I also see that Linda will soon have the contest for the new badge for her prompts.  We’ll all be saying goodbye to the one below that her readers voted for.  I’ve so appreciated the opportunity to share time with you and your readers as the badge owner.  Thank you, Linda!  I wish the next winner wild success!  

PS – Happy Belated Thanksgiving to my US friends.  And THANK YOU to all of you readers, you inspire me to show up here and share my world and to hear your thoughts.  xoxo!

Published by Shelley

Letting my quirk out one post at a time.

44 thoughts on “A Birthday Interview with a Baby of the Baby-Boomers”

  1. Happy Birthday, Shelley! I hope you have a wonderful day, and we all hope next year will be better. I mean, how could it be worse? LOL. (Is that tempting fate?)

    Yes! TP has gotten shorter…I noticed that subconsciously but hadn’t thought about it until I saw your pic. I tell ya…if there is a way to get more $ for less product, manufacturers will find a way to do it. And what is in more demand than TP?

    Thanks for the link to that book. I hadn’t heard of it and the excerpts I read look really lovely.

    1. Thank you, Laurel!! I had a great day – decorated in record speed and spent an hour on a zoom call with my daughters. My dad even remembered this year to call me.
      I thought the TP had shrunk, and so I reached back into the drawer where we keep rolls to compare, and YEP we’re paying more for less!
      You’re welcome, I hope you enjoy the book too. Do you use Overdrive to connect to your local library for checking out books? My youngest taught me how to do it so I could start using my Kindle again. It took me 60 minutes to find it buried in a stack of papers to ‘sort’ through. I swear this year is causing me to lose my mind too!
      I’m so thankful that you’ve shared your thoughts with me this year! Safe wishes for a wonderful holiday season to you and yours!

      1. Our library switched to some software that didn’t work with Kindle a couple years back. They must have gotten a lot of feedback, because this year they went to Libby which again works with my Kindle. I was SO happy…a bright spot in the middle of 2020. I was able to download that book with Hoopla (another option that apparently works) on my iPad. I’m happiest when it works with my Kindle, though.

        Happy holidays to you and yours, too! It’s a strange holiday, and thank god for Zoom and FaceTime. 🙂

        1. Yay – Glad to hear you’ve found a bright spot in 2020 too. I wish I would’ve known about the library option earlier, I may have read more books. I’ve been re-reading ones I enjoyed before, but they don’t motivate me quite as much on the treadmill! LOL.
          Thank you – you’re right on all accounts!! 🙂

  5. Happy Birthday Shelley. What an interesting post and great reflections on a year gone by. Thanks for sharing the conversation.

    1. Thank you, Janet! I appreciate you joining me here to celebrate and to share conversation. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family with fun Keto friendly food, of course! I had leftover pumpkin pie instead of cake for my birthday LOL! 😉

  7. Happy birthday! It sounds like you and your husband have made the best out of a very weird year. Getting as healthy as possible so we are “tough to kill” (love that) is so important.

    I think many of us have received that cut-and-paste email and, like you, we’ve just deleted it. If the intent was to make us ashamed or feel bad about our age and generation, it didn’t work. It just makes the commenter look petty, sad, and petulant.

    1. Thank you, Janis! Yes, we’re enjoying the challenges to eat better and definitely notice if we stray too far from what we know is helping us stay tough.
      Really – here I thought it was a targeted comment. Well, I’m glad you pointed that out and I’m glad it went to spam for good. I agree, it sure does make that commenter petty, sad, and petulant.
      Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!

  8. Happy Birthday!! May your 56th year of living be filled with moments that become happy memories, both the adventures and the everyday ordinary things.

  9. Happy Birthday Shelley! Keep up the great attitude! Glad you had a good birthday, and really, who knows what 2021 will hold? So many say it’s got to be better than 2020. I’m not so sure about that, but hey, gotta look at the bright side of things, huh? Taking care of your health is the best form of defense. The trick is to take are of both mental and physical health. So… here’s to a great next year for you! 🎈🎆✨🎉🎈🎁😊

    1. Thank you, Lisa! I agree taking care of physical and mental together is key. I’ve been struggling with the later of late.
      Despite the blues, it was a ‘great’ birthday – unique for sure. But I did get to do a nice long Zoom call with my daughters, and the Christmas tree is still standing this morning despite the cat’s help.
      I wish you a great 2021 too – I’m guessing our jammies look will still be in style?!

        1. I’m hoping we’re wrong on 2021 being similar. We were certainly blindsided by 2020, so it’ll be hard to top that, right?!
          Yes, indeed it is.

  10. Happy Birthday Shelley. We share a birth month – My Aunt Adele always said, “the best people are born in November.” As for the whiny moaning groaning young person, no doubt the product of over-indulgent baby boomers, I’d like to send him back in time to the 60s. Without his phone and Google, he’d probably just curl up into a ball and starve to death.

    The toilet paper began shrinking in 2019. We buy TP (when possible) at Costco and we’ve always stacked it in little closet area in the downstairs bathroom. I built the shelves in 1995 when we moved in, and they have always held a stack of three rolls. I would shake my head as to why I didn’t space them a little farther apart, so they could hold four – now they hold four with room to spare.

    I hope you will be able to celebrate your 56th birthday in grand style, but I hope 55 was a happy one. We all deserve that, even us boomers.

    1. Happy Belated Birthday to you Dan! Yes, I agree with you and your Aunt Adele – November births are special!! LOL – I like your description and response for the commenter.
      It is truly amazing how much TP has changed and how quickly we accepted it, out of necessity I guess? The same has happened to paper towels. That’ll be my next photo session I think. I still have an older role to compare to.
      My birthday celebration was quiet but nice and this year I hope is better than last. I hope your birthday was grand and that you had two limes for your Corona!! 🙂

  11. Wow, I can’t believe that guy’s comment. What on earth?! Totally within your rights to rant a bit. But let’s no detract from your birthday. I hope it was wonderful! (I’m glad you enjoyed some Lefse for Thanksgiving and some shopping–that’s good therapy, though I’m sure you missed doing it with your girls.) And, here’s to at least 56 more years–with your Keto and healthy living, you could do it!

    1. LOL – thanks for agreeing with me on the need for a rant. I try to be accepting of all thoughts here, but that one just didn’t sit well with me. I guess it is spam? Now it is gone, so I’m back to ‘normal’.
      We finished off the Lefse last night for the year. Maybe I’ll get some more for Christmas? We’ll see.
      I was off yesterday and did some essential shopping. It isn’t the same, that’s for sure.
      Cheers to being tough and healthy and hoping it is what will work for many years to come!
      I hope your holiday season is going well. I bet the boys are growing so fast now! Soon it’ll be skiing season?! Will you get to go?!

      1. I do hope I can get a ski trip in with my little skier (or snowboarder, but he said he wants to try skiing next). We have to travel a couple hours for a ski resort, but it’s a special overnight with just one of my guys. Have to do that kind of one-on-one attention–even with twins. And my husband and the other one will do their own thing. Hopefully, we can manage masks and distancing on the slopes–I should think so!

        1. I hope so for you too – fresh air and sunshine on the slopes and 1-1 time with your little guy(s) is a great parenting move, you’ll do it, I’m sure you’ll find a way!

      1. Yes! Well for this year anyway … I would like to increase my birth year with each of your birthdays. When I do a survey and have to scroll down to find my birth year, it takes longer and longer to find that year – grrr!!

        1. You know, now that you mention the scroll factor, I’ve been noticing that too! It’s funny, and not-so-funny at the same time!

  13. Happy belated birthday Shelley! I hope it was joyous! I apologize for being so late. I’m so behind on reading my favorite blogs. We share a birthday month, and I raise my coffee cup to you for making it another year. 🙂
    As for your commenter, clearly they don’t know what the word “literally” means. It seems to be a buzzword thrown around, in the hopes of making someone look smart. The statement “Literally everyone hates baby boomers now.” proves their ignorance and (should I say it? Oh WTH), their stupidity. I don’t hate baby boomers, you don’t hate baby boomers, so the statement is not only ignorant but false. If you say “literally” then follow it with a massive exaggeration…you may be an idiot.
    With that being said, I love your blog Shelley. Let’s look forward to next year!

    1. Thank you! It was a nice, quiet, day – and I got to chat with the girls on Zoom too.
      Cheers to you on your birthday too, November is a great month to be born in!
      You make great points about the comment/commenter. I don’t feel bad about deleting it and moving on.
      Thank you – I’m so glad you enjoy my ramblings and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts – ditto to you and your blog. I’m looking forward to next year too!

  14. Hard to kill!
    Love that line
    And thanks for sharing your thoughts on a nice birthday –
    And that comment does Deserve to be deleted
    Have a good day and ttys

    1. Yes, hard to kill is my motto this year. I may be a scrooge while I’m at it, but I’m being tough.
      Thank you, it was a nice birthday – your wishes made it extra special.
      I hope you’re smiling and doing well! xx

      1. Smiling and doing fine as the year ends on a njce note for me – and I still think of you almost every time I use my vitamins e oil– and once in a while when I see a unicorn! HahahH

        1. Yay, I’m happy to read you’re ending the year on an upnote! I’m still using the vitamin E oil every day. And, so far, so good, no return of either the unicorn status or the seborrheic keratosis on my face. The scar healed and the wild gray hair grew back. My self-plastic surgery on my face worked, helped a lot by getting rid of insulin resistance! It’ll continue on as a healthy 2021 for us, we hope! I wish the same for you and yours too – and much continued joy! Stay tough!! xx

          1. thank for the update – and let’s stay tough but also feel – and heal and repair as needed – right? there is decompression and just pacing- i think sometimes folks soldier on but accidentally “store the boxes of issues” and then have to work through it at some point – not saying that we do it – but i guess that is what comes ti mind when I hear “tough” – to not be too tough – in fact – have you ever heard of Carol Dweck’s growth mindset – such good stuff –

          2. You’re welcome, Yvette. Thanks for your thoughts. No, I’ve not heard of Carol. I’ll have to look her up, thanks for the suggestion.
            Yes – stay tough, heal, repair and work through the stages of grief. I definitely have good and bad days. Today is a good day. For now. 🙂 xx

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