Grandpas are storytellers, big word spellers ballgame yellers.
They’re silly–songers, take-alongers, big and strongers. Grandpas are kiss-and-huggers, pigtail tuggers, dolly snugglers . . . they’re funny teasers, bounce on knee-ers and super-duper grandkid pleasers. – Bruce Kennedy
Wyoming on a few days last weekend was a gray and chilly place. Fall was in the air.
And I am sitting there, thinking serious thoughts.
Not sure anyone really cares what old fellers think about, as they get older. But when you get to write a column, well, I guess my readers get to be subjected to my thoughts.
Today my thoughts are subdued. About time left. Things undone. Legacy.
Different Generations
Odd how generations can seem so different. When my dad was 79, I thought he was an old man. A really, really old man. As for me, I really do not consider myself so “old” at this same age. It really is just a number right now.
I am blessed with relatively good health. So many of my friends have been sick or have died. We can recognize a blessed life when we see it.
We Baby Boomers have always looked at things differently. I totally bought into the concept that when we hit 60, it was is the new 40.
Looking Back
So, what conclusions do we think about when we look back on almost eight decades of life on this planet?
• Probably the first obvious fact is how pleased we are that we are here at all. When you live this long, you look back on a long list of friends and family who did not make it this far. Why were we so lucky when others had heart attacks, succumbed to cancer, or even car wrecks and plane crashes?
But here we are. Why? Is there some special purpose we are designed for? If so, we better get with it – time is running out.
• A second conclusion is pure thankfulness. You are grateful for all those wonderful things in your life like your spouse, your kids and grandkids, and even now, great grandkids. We give thanks for our friends and our wonderful life experiences. We also are sometimes thankful even for not-so-great events because they helped build character.
• A third aspiration is an eager anticipation for the rest of life. We still have a few things we want to do. We have the experience and the resources to do good works. This should be the credo of today’s aging boomers. Stay relevant. Make this time count!
Those Boomers
Who is a boomer? You had to be born between 1946 and 1964 to qualify as a member of the “Baby Boom” generation. These are people raised by the World War II generation after that great war.
I always like to remind everyone that I am one of the oldest boomers, having been conceived in June, 1945 and born in March 1946. Following me has been a staggering total of 78 million Americans. Some 30 percent (23 million) have already died. Whew, that takes my breath away.
We have experienced a lot. For example:
My group of boomers was 17 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. By the time we graduated from high school, there were plenty of jobs. But not everything was rosy. The Vietnam War was snatching many of us. Flower children were experimenting with drugs, some suffering permanent negative effects.
We saw men walk on the moon. We saw the end of the Soviet empire and the beginning of the Internet.
This is a group who can talk for hours about their successes, their failures, their health, their hopes, and their omissions.
We also talk about retirement, vacation homes, grandchildren, and the myriad of medications they take for real and imagined ailments. These discussions of ailments are called organ recitals.
Are we the most spoiled generation? A lot of smart folks think that the boomers have had it better economically than the generations that followed. And we definitely had it better than any generation before. Keep in mind, most boomers were born with strong work ethics. We worked very, very hard.
And now there are more generations also hanging around – Generation X, the Millennials, Generation Z, and now the pre-teens.
We oldest boomers recall graduating from high school in the 1960s. My commencement was in a gym at a consolidated high school between Elgin and Clermont and Wadena, Iowa.
Principal Paul Zurbriggen said this would be the last time we would all be in one place together. I remember shaking Harlan Bilden's hand. He was a short, freckle-faced farm boy. Nice guy. Harlan was killed in Vietnam a year later.
One of my buddies was Larry Halverson. He went to Vietnam, too, and was wounded. He came home, married his sweetheart Peggy, had several children and led a fine but short life. He died from a heart attack while squirrel hunting at the age of 56.
Who Are These Old People?
Some 11 years ago, I attended my 50th high school reunion. It was fun, but I had to wonder, who were all these old people? Where did all my young classmates go?
Those questions and more are some of the things that old guys think about on a brisk fall Sunday afternoon in Wyoming.
