Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

ON GROWING UP

i just finished the clapton autobiography. loved it. love him. duh. he's 62 years old and better than ever. and better looking than ever.

sunday night, we went to see the boss, bruce springsteen (and the e street band) in concert. he's 58. and better than ever. i'm not sure HOW he looks cuz we were in the fucking LAST row at the Q. he looked pretty good on the jumbotron.

bill and i are 53 and 54. we live exactly where we've always wanted to live, do exactly what we want to do. we're at the beginning of a huge life-changing project. we're having a ball.

it's a surprise to find yourself in your 50's with the same passion as you had in your twenties. i (i'm guessing like most people) didn't think it would feel the same (it being me. or living. whatever). i guess i just felt (when i was youngER) that i'd feel calm. and wise. and settled. different.

what i DO feel is pretty much the same. but a hell of a lot smarter. i feel the same passion for my husband. no, that's not true. really, it's more. and better. i don't feel like i should have to apologize for riding around on a pink scooter. or wearing overalls and converse tennis shoes. or going to rock concerts.

i believe that the best thing a youngER person can do is learn to keep his or her big, arrogant, know-it-all, self-righteous mouth shut for maybe 10 years past the age of majority, so that he or she doesn't say anything big he or she might regret. i'm not talking about every he or she. just the ones that are arrogant, know-it-all, self-righteous. the ones that look at their driver's licenses and think they're grown ups because it says so right there.

they walk around like the emperor with his new clothes, naked for all the rest of the world to see (except for the rest of the naked emperors and empresses). thinking that others see a grown-up, when, in reality, we can see right through them. to their stupidity.

to my kids: i'm not talking about you guys. you guys are wayyy smarter than that. i'm talking about the kids that walk around like they have the keys to the ENTIRE kingdom, and nobody else (ESPECIALLY old people) have the right to any of the perks. [please forgive all the metaphors : you don't know what a metaphor is? go ask your mother] and make their nasty, arrogant, know-it-all, self-righteous comments. because, you need to know how they feel, you know. because, um, well i guess it's because how they feel is the only thing that really matters. fucking fascists.* (oh, you don't know what a fascist is? go ask...)

if you're lucky, you'll feel the way i do. at the springsteen concert, the (i am not kidding) average age of the ticket holder had to be 45. i swear to god. it was fabulous. i'm not used to this. at most concerts we go to, we're a very, very tiny minority. the emperors and empresses look at you wondering why the fuck you're there. to listen to the fucking BAND, assholes. most of them are AT LEAST my age!

we are here. the baby boomer generation is all grown up. aging. still having a ball. get over it. we made a hell of a lot of mistakes (a whole fucking LOT of mistakes, and some of them have to do with the way SOME OF US raised little emperors and empresses) along the way to "maturity," but we're here. and we're not going to go quietly.

*"fucking fascists" is a movie allusion. i know you probably know the "big lebowski." go ask your mother what an "allusion" is. yep, it's spelled correctly.

Posted by Stacey at November 5, 2007 12:29 PM