The Demographic
As a Baby Boomer, I have always been part of the gargantuan bubble drum rolling through the chaos of the past decades. Continuing to move through life’s developmental stages with many of the other now 60 plus year old aging hippies is no different. As senior citizens, we are in abundance. Ironically the tasks of our development now consist of those fit for the maturing. We make decisions about our retirement plans, where we will live, Will we continue to work? Will we travel? Which friends we will keep or who slips into the acquaintance category, seldom seen, maybe on the holiday card list but never on the “why don’t you come to dinner?” list.
For the next three weeks, I am traveling. Two of these weeks will be spent selfishly enjoying the warm waters of the Caribbean, the cooking of the village chef, and the housekeeping of the island workers. Club Med, Columbus Isle in San Salvador offers a reasonably priced all-inclusive vacation. While there are many activities, there are also no forced events. Late for the breakfast time slot in the main restaurant? No worry, it is available all morning at another restaurant across the village.
While I often think that we are the two luckiest people in the world, when we travel, I realize we are once again part of the same large demographic. Last night, sitting in a restaurant having a drink and snack at the hotel near BWI, we looked around the room and saw several other graying couples. They looked nice, well groomed, leisurely, and relaxed. One lady was drinking a stemmed martini type drink and the gentleman looked like he was sipping a mixed drink, what would be called a highball in my dad’s generation. After a few moments we all caught each other’s eye contact, then asked, “Are you traveling tomorrow?” They were leaving for Hawaii for several weeks. We were leaving for the Bahamas. Another gentleman and his wife joined us in the conversation about the many places they had traveled. As I looked around the room, there were many small groups of senior travelers, all of us chatting about our travels, our children, our grandchildren, and since we didn’t really know each other well, no one launched into what I call the “organ recital” about their selection of ailments.
How lucky is our generation? We have had societal dominance since 1945. We went to schools that were challenging and produced a well educated generation of future workers. We had money for cars, our parents likely lived in nice homes. If we went to college, our parents paid and we maybe had a part-time job for spending money. If we graduated high school at that time, many of us could obtain employment with “on the job training options” and union membership that offered a very secure living as part of the middle class.
Life was good 🙂
Life Gets Better 