I’m not quite sure when it started, but, seemingly all of a sudden, I’m hearing of lots of friends dealing with the kinds of physical ailments that I used to associate with those much older. Than me – a baby boomer. And not an “original” boomer either – I’m talking about those of us born a little later on in the boomer generation.

Heart surgeries, hip and knee replacements, torn rotator cuffs, spinal fusions, rehab from falls and broken bones – when did all of this happen? And, more important, when did it start happening to such young people?

Ah, there’s the rub. Maybe we’re not so young after all. It’s really hard to claim being middle-aged when you’re a card-carrying Medicare member (how many people do you know who live to age 130?). But a senior? Maybe, technically, when it entitles me to discounts (and to polite young people reaching something on a too-high shelf for me when I’m shopping). But I just can’t get my head around that designation.

In short, we’re not the same kind of people as our parents were when they became seniors – they seemed to age more quickly in their thinking (and in their dress – dads in white belts and white shoes, anyone?). Our generation looks younger, acts younger, thinks younger, lives younger. Rather than looking forward to retirement as the time for early-bird specials and shuffleboard on the Lido Deck, we’re the ones looking forward to more adventure and intellectual fulfillment. Ninety percent of it, I think, is attitude; the rest is a combination of things – awareness; being willing to think outside the box; healthier living, maybe. And the fact that we love rock and roll (always have, always will).

Maybe my generation’s senior status is more like being a senior in high school versus a stereotypical senior citizen. We’re the cool kids; the ones who get to do stuff the others aren’t old enough to handle; the ones everyone wants to be like.

Alas, maybe not. But we’re still cool – we know it. We may be older, with some parts needing repair or replacement, but we’re built with a mindset that sets us apart from those who came before us. It’s hard to believe that those days of being the bright new minds in our various crafts have passed; that our era of working way into the wee hours without missing sleep is gone; that those evenings of dancing until dawn (in high heels, no less) are rare; and that the idea that, more than feeling the pulse of the times, we actually were the pulse, is behind us. But the passions we’ve stoked, the love we’ve nurtured, the wisdom we’ve gathered and continue to share, and that brilliant energy to believe – those things still define us.

Sonic boom.

©2023 Claudia Grossman