BABY BOOMER BABBLE

Baby boomer Bruce turns sixty

I turn sixty next Friday. Gee-whiz! Sixty. I’m actually pretty happy about it. I almost didn’t make it. Now I’m shooting for 75. They say if you get to 60, you can expect to live until at least age 83. But, I don’t want to get greedy. Not until I get to age 74, than I might want to make an adjustment. Right now it feels good getting to sixty. Two more years and Uncle Sam will have to start paying me for staying alive. Sweet revenge.

About 330 baby boomers are turning sixty every hour. On April 4, 2008, I will be one of five turning sixty between the hours of 10 and 11pm. Makes me feel sort of special.

As for the past sixty years, well, its been fun. I had a good childhood; my parents were kind and understanding; I knew and have good memories of my grandparents; I won our grade school science fair, beating all the smart girls; I loved playing baseball and basketball; I married my childhood sweetheart; we have two great kids; we have owned four homes, all special and unique; I had three different jobs spanning thirty plus years; I am now retired and about to start on my second book; I have written columns for The Zephyr for thirteen years; I have some really good friends; and I have, so to speak, came back from the dead, keeping some pretty good company. That leaves out a few not so good things, but all in all, not a bad sixty years.

As for my goals and expectations for the future:

* Now that I’m retired, I can start to do what I really want and would like to do. All I got to do is figure out what that is.

* I want to write a decent book. I think it will be a fable. I’m trying to decide on the title. Some people write and then title it. I title it and then write. Why do anything conventional at this point?

* Health is always an issue. Trying to stay alive is damn near a full-time job. I don’t eat healthy, I hate to exercise, and I despise medications. Aside from that, I do pretty good. I’m not adjusting well to the health-side of old age. I need a miracle elixir.

* I like to play golf. I enjoy it, most of the time. Golf is a good game. It is kind of a microcosm of life. There are ups and downs and your game is pretty much of your own doing. There’s no one else to blame, unless, of course, one of your playing partners yells on your back swing. The only way you really get better is by practicing. The old do, re-do theory. You have to execute. You have to do what you know needs doing. Talk can’t get you by. It takes action. The game of golf takes focus, concentration, patience, execution, all the while understanding that you’ll never quite get it. That’s life.

* I’m not big on traveling, but there are a few places I would like to see. I would like to visit Paris, and rural France. I like the French, mainly because they dislike Bush. I’d like to personally

tell them that we are not all flag waving, God Bless America singing, war mongering, die hard, right-wing Republican, Christian, fanatics. And I wouldn’t mind seeing rural Italy, Stonehenge, in England, and playing a round of golf in Ireland. I would like to meet Castro and visit Hemingway’s home in Cuba, but I don’t see that happening. Other than that, I’m pretty content to take a closer look around America and take up fishing.

They say drink a lot of water, exercise, eat healthy, and stay positive, if you want to live a long life. I’m going with drink a little beer, play video poker until my ass hurts, have a steak and some fried chicken every now and then, and raise just about as much hell as I possibly get away with. While I may not make it to 83, I sure intend on having some fun clawing my way towards 61.