Every day, I work hard. I write, study, and work on my book business. I help other people. I spend time with family and friends. [Read more…]
Surgery Can Change Your Perspective
Never Too High or Too Low
Our President has been called “No Drama Obama.” And he frequently says, “I never get too high or too low.” I’ve noticed that phrase slipping into the common vernacular; you especially see it when an athlete is interviewed about his or her performance.
After a couple decades of watching diva behavior (from both genders) elevated to an art form (see: Housewives, Jersey Shore, et al) I’m glad that we as a country seem to be settling down. Maybe it’s because that pig-in-the-python, the Boomer demographic, is causing the rest of the country to mature a little.
This is one of the coolest things about getting older. By the time you’re middle-aged, you’ve lived through a lot. You’ve suffered pain; been stunned by cruelty and shocked by abuse; and you’ve watched gape-mouthed in wonder at the narcissism and selfishness in the world, sometimes on a global scale (see: Zimbabwe; Mugabe). You’ve endured the sleepless nights, the run to the ER, the drama of family ultimata (yes, in my case it’s plural, unfortunately.)
And now, when that stuff comes up? Yawn. How different from when we were younger. The drama about killed us sometimes, didn’t it? But now I’d rather take a nap.
Kindle readers, send me your comments at Lmspreen@yahoo.com.
Boomers Know How to Get What They Need
I’m addicted to advice columns and especially “Tell Me About It” by Carolyn Hax. Recently, a woman with a clueless husband got this advice from an online commenter:
I believe in making it easy for your spouse to make you happy. If I have spent a whole afternoon deep-cleaning the kitchen, rather than expect my husband to notice (and brood if he doesn’t), I tell him, “Admire the kitchen — I spent the whole afternoon cleaning.” Then he admires with fervor. If you care that he/she remembers your anniversary/birthday, remind him or her. It may be less romantic than surprises, but marriage is for the long haul, and playing mind games or expecting your spouse to read your mind gets in the way of happiness.
I like the above because it reminds me that Boomers have been through it, and if we have brains, we’re no longer as motivated by the drama. Don’t care for it, in fact. There was a time that it seemed much more exciting. Now, it’s just tiring. We have learned to say what we mean, and do it with a twinkle in our eyes. Life is too short for drama.
Let’s Retire the “How Not To Look Old” Articles
I recently found a blog for women over 50. Said blog includes a 10-part series called “How Not To Look Old.” Also, More Magazine runs that crap all the time, and I’m appalled that we’re buying it. It’s like we’re still in junior high, reading Seventeen and slavishly following its mandates, afraid to show the slightest bit of independent thinking.
We’re so brainwashed to abhor age that our efforts to emulate children is accepted, expected, and admired. We demand it of ourselves and each other.
Oh, hell yes, unpuckered skin is beautiful, but I refuse to try to have it, or to lament that I don’t have it, or put some 18-year-old on a pedestal because she does have it. I also refuse to see myself as LESS because I have wrinkles, lines and crevasses. My belly looks like a road map of scars from life-saving surgeries. And I ain’t apologizin’.
My 85-yr-old mom is wrinkled and her spine is bent, but she attends exercise class three times a week, drives herself all over town, enjoys lunch and movies with a large group of girlfriends, and is still hungry to learn, grow and evolve. All of these women are old, and they’re successful at being old. They’re courageous and enthusiastic, in spite of the physical and mental pain that old age layers on. Yet when they go to the store they see the magazine stands plastered with headlines about how much we desperately do NOT want to look like them! Is that the news? Is that what matters?
I’ll tell you what matters: I recently had a scare. I thought I had a form of cancer (I don’t) that killed 2 of my aunts. One of them was 60 when she died. I’m 56, and after that experience, I don’t really care if I LOOK old – I’ll just be darned glad to GET old.
“Boomer Lit” Should be Compelling, not Childish
I have looked for good books about middle-age, but 95% of them seem to be frothy upgrades of young adulthood. [Read more…]
Boomers Embrace Google Voice
I just downloaded Google Voice and I love it. Now I can make phone calls from my laptop, for FREE, anywhere in the US and Canada, 24/7. If I were the CEO of a landline company I would be shakin’ in my loafers.
(Landline. Isn’t it weird that we even started calling them that?)
I’m happy about Google Voice because I really hate my cellphone. It always reverts to stupid, unplanned activity, like chiming when I have an email, or changing the ringtone without any input from me. No matter what brand I get, they always start crapping out after about a year. Also, I’m afraid of getting brain cancer.
But this is the biggest thing: on a cellphone, only one person can talk at a time. Have you ever had this conversation?
“What?”
“Go ahead.”
“No, you talk.”
“No, really, I was done.”
“Okay, I was just saying…”
I’ve complained to my 30-something kids about the above problem, but they don’t understand, because all they know is cellphones, which for all intents and purposes are walkie-talkies. My kids settle for inferior quality and don’t even realize it.
More about Google Voice, and the future of telephony here. Hint: you may soon be speaking through your television.
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