You are familiar with the saying that goes around and comes around when the subject of age comes up: “50 is the new 30, 60 is the new 40, 70 is the new 50” in various iterations. Now that I’ve reached the “70 is the new 50” plateau, I’m ready to claim my age for my own.
When I reached age 72 last year, there was something about this number that I really liked. I no longer respond to the dreaded “how old are you?” question with “that’s a state secret.”
If you are in your seventies too, then we grew up together. I was born in 1944 in New York City. I’ve learned (according to studies cited in Wikipedia) that I’m not technically a “Baby Boomer,” due to my pre-1946 birth date.
Instead, I’m aligned with my contemporaries who are not labeled with traits and demographics that categorize us. I see this as an opportunity for us to think and act with independence from labels.
If you were born on 8/1/47, you are 70 this year, congratulations! If you were born on 1/1/37, you are still in your seventies, congratulations to you too!
You and I were young kids in the 1940s. We went to junior high, high school, first jobs or college in the ’50s and ’60s. In the 1970s, we set the stage for the direction of our adult lives. We made choices about education, career, finances, geography, civic and religious involvement, and relationships—although as young immortals, we didn’t contemplate the long-term impact.
Now, we understand—and face—the consequences of those choices in real terms as we confront the future that is here, now.
A formative time in our lives has reappeared, but this time we have access to resources and skills we didn’t have before. We’ve gained perspective over time from a series of life’s lessons. We draw upon our catalogue of personal experience, whether easy or difficult, positive or painful, to do what’s called for to envision and shape our future—again.
Changed circumstances can mean leaving behind a lifelong job or career; losing a partner or other beloved person, including dear friends that move or drift away; dealing with health challenges; facing financial limitations; relocating to another area or unaccustomed living arrangement; taking on all-consuming caregiving responsibilities (see my related piece Four Ways to Care); or navigating a new relationship.
The nature of these circumstances can range from the catastrophic and unanticipated to carrying out a carefully crafted long-range plan.
In my case, my husband and I had the dream in place, and it was supposed to be together, forever. Then, just when we were about to open the next chapter we had been waiting for, he died. Powerful forces hijacked the arc of my life in a compressed time span, with no leisure for planning or contemplation.
At the very end of my sixties, I entered kicking and screaming into a transformative phase of my life.
Will we discover creative gifts or revive passions that did not fit into career or family years? Will we affiliate with a spiritual community or strengthen an inner spiritual life? Will we find meaning in nurturing friendships more deeply? Will we actively support and model family ties as the new generations expand? Will we make commitments for a better world in troubled times?
One way that I have enriched my life this past year is to seek friends in diverse age ranges—younger than seventies, older than seventies. My new friend Jill who I met in a literary discussion group is a filmmaker just turned fifty. She texts me to meet for a glass of wine after work or for breakfast at the new Belgian bistro in town on Saturday morning.
I enjoy the serendipity of these spur-of-the-moment plans, and there is no end to the topics of life, love, and issues of the day that we discuss intently—punctuated with plenty of laughter!
Another new friend, Davida, an author who recently celebrated her ninetieth birthday, expertly edits my writing with her sharp pen and invites me to attend her classic film showings and lectures. We also spend hours discussing matters of life and love. I’m hoping that these delightful friends gain as much from our new connections as I do.
Now if Jill is the new thirty, I’m the new fifty, and Davida is the new seventy . . . wait, I’m getting confused.
Enough already with X = the new Y. Let’s leave Algebra One to ninth grade where it belongs. Next time someone asks me how old I am, I’ll throw them off track by replying cheerfully, “I’m the new fifty!” and be done with it.
Thank you Barrie Levine for the invitation to follow your blog. It will be an exceptional pleasure to share the thoughts of someone like yourself who has the rare ability to shine a light on the path in front of us. Also I have long noted that you collect amazing people around you, so it’s an honor to be in THIS crowd.
You win the award for traveling farthest to the high school reunion, from the City of Light! My “crowd” is an amazing group of friends, family, and readers – and you are in!
Love the upbeat tone of your blog. So glad you are enjoying writing about life, etc.
Donna, I plan to include nostalgia and grief pieces, along with numerous other subjects relevant to us all. Thank you for your support.
See, Barrie, I told you it would not take long before your blog was being read in Paris! Before you know it, people around the world will be reading it. I certainly will be.
Maybe I can get some folks in Israel to read it too!
One word really jumped out at me – clarity. After reading through your blog for the second time I realized that it is already helping me to clarify my thoughts. I am looking forward to your future posts.
Janet, I am delighted that my piece resonated with you, thanks for letting me know.
Thank you Barrie for creating this blog and inspiring us to reflect on life, it’s challenges and its purpose. Approaching the seventh chapter of our life can be comforting if we share good health, a positive outlook and a zest for life. You have it all!! Spread the wealth…it’s refreshing to read your views and I look forward to your future blogs or may I call them BarrieGrams…Rosiles would be very proud. I see her smiling now
Yes, my mom was the original blogger, although her media platform was the mimeograph machine in the school office and then the U.S. mail. Everyone in the family has saved the Rosie-Grams which now amount to an extended family history and her memoir. I will post one on my blog at a future date as a tribute to the one and only 🌹
I, too, look forward to Barriegrams. (Is this already a meme?) Your blog is off to a great start and I look forward to more anon!
– David
Thank you David for your support and tech help in setting up the WordPress platform and encouraging me to launch a blog in the first place.
I envision that the blog’s informal title could settle into Barrie-Grams not only because it’s catchy but also because it connects those of us who have received Rosie-Grams from Barrie’s mom.
Congratulations, Barrie, on this new step in continued re-creation of self and others I am happy to claim you as one of my young friends and to join you on the journey. Barbara
Thank you Barbara for your lovely comment and I will do my best for my great audience.
Congratulations Barrie on this wonderful blog. I look forward to following along and am glad to be counted among your friends. Xxoo Judi
Thank you Judi, we’ve been through a lot over a long time, never to be forgotten. Levine Field! Jill and Max in wedding ceremony!
I’ll join you as one of the youngsters since I don’t look in the mirror very often.
It’s still new to be 81, and it will be newer to be 82 this year.
What fun to be able to follow your literary adventures as though you are just around the corner.
And I will be in your corner, arriving Santa Fe July 30th. See you soon, my friend!
Barrie, what a great idea for this blog. It was well thought out and I am looking forward to reading more. Thanks for including me.
Thank you Sandy, I’m so pleased that you like it. We do have so much in common, growing up in Linden and going through school together – and now, still together!
Happy to Celebrate where we have been and where we are going on our diverse life adventures! Wishing all the best and looking forward to your future blog posts. Millie
Hi Millie, hope you and Jack are well, enjoying the summer. So glad to see you here, thank you!
I know it’s tough not to have a generational moniker like boomer, X, millennial etc. I am 84. We are called THE GREATEST GENERATION. You could call yourself THE GREATEST GENERATION, JR.
That is definitely a contender! I researched further, and found that since I am on the line between two generations, I get to choose the one that resonates. In that case, I am boomer through and through – not “the silent generation” (a terrible non-name) for those born from 1925-1945.
You go GIRL, emphasis on girl. Kudos on your blog. Sooo looking forward to future blogs, especially the one on CMS. Love being part of your tribe which is ever growing! Blessings and big hugs!! L
Thanks Linda for your enthusiastic support of my writing adventure – I’m thrilled to have supportive and interested readers like you!
As I read this, it was your voice I “heard” reciting the words, reflecting your enthusiasm and delight in the expectation of future blogs. I’m particularly pleased to know that you’re 72 years of age – I spent years trying to weasel your age out of you. Phew…. now don’t you feel better?!
Please consider this southern CA gal as one of your long-distance admirers.
Haha Lois, the genie is out of the bottle, I guess everyone knows my age now – 72 forever! So far, you get the prize for traveling the longest distance to the reunion – except, that is, for my cousin in Paris and my son in the promised land. Thanks for supporting my blog and being a fan!
Well , what can I say? Inspiring through and through, yesterday, today, and for sure tomorrow.
Enjoyed reading your blog immensely Barrie, enjoyed your recent class, and so looking forward to the next one.
Kathy, I am absolutely delighted that you are following my blog, thank you for your heartwarming input. For one of my future posts, I will publish haikus written by my readers. You already have some that I want to include – with your permission of course!
Yes Barrie , of course you can use any written material of mine.
Sincerely
Kathy Batten
Well I finally did it. I have now read all 4 of your blog entries. Reading them has been a pleasure. You writing flows naturally and provides the reader with a sense of connection to your journeys, it feels like we are walking alongside one another and chatting. The visuals you evoke are clear and endearing. Please keep posting. I miss you my friend.
So happy to see you here Lisa, it’s nice to be accompanied by you, my lovely friend.
Hello. I loved this article so much.this is to inform you that you have now reached Kenya. Jambo!!
Thank you Javier for reading my blog and letting me know where you are on the globe!
Thanks Barrie Levine for such a wonderful article. You have completely changed my mind about life and aging.
I will spread your message across Nigeria and Africa.
Thank you Okechukwu for reading my piece. I am pleased that it resonated with you. It is nice to hear from friends around the world, we have more common threads than differences, I like to think.