Mr. Wizard died.

It was with great sadness that I learned that Don Herbert, better known as Mr. Wizard, died this week.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i25/8525news9.html
I remember watching him on Saturday mornings and marveling at everything he did. He inspired an interest in everything that had to do with science and learning in me that has never left me. I wonder how many lives he touched, how many young men and women he inspired to go on to make a difference.
His show was simple, the knowledge he passed on, priceless.
Rest in peace.

What retirement?

According to a report yesterday, Boomers are not set up to retire because we haven't saved enough. Well, we already knew that. Besides, we have no intention of retiring. Maybe changing course. Shifting gears. Doing something different. But retire? I can't see it. I started my own business four years ago and I'm lucky enough to work from home now. That's kind of like retiring, as far as I'm concerned. I can see me doing this for the next few years. After that, I don't know but I'm sure something will show itself. My husband feels the same way. Our generation would go nuts sitting around all day.

It's a situation that faces Boomers every day.
Parents getting old, frail, needing more and more care.
My husband's father fell this past week and broke his rib. Luckily, he is still able to live at home and be cared for by his wife, my husband's mother. But how long can that last? He's fallen three times in the past couple of months, this last time was the worst one. We worry about them every day. The hard part is that they live in Texas, hundreds of miles away.
I'm lucky that my parents are both alive and well, too. But they live in Florida. Even further.
As Boomers and their parents get older, the worries are going to get worse, not better.
I don't know the answer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19096633

We've been labled the "sandwich generation" - caught between kids and parents and caring for both. My husband and I don't have children together but all four of our parents are still alive and getting older. Their health is obviously not what it used to be and a cause for concern.
So maybe we're an open faced sandwich? Only have worries on one side of us?
No matter, watching parents become frail and dependent is hard no matter how old you are.

I love it here!

I am a Baby Boomer woman and proud of it!
I belong to a generation of 76 million strong individuals. From our birth, we have changed everything in our path. In our younger years, whole industries were formed around our need for diapers, shoes and baby food. When it was time for us to go to school, the education system changed to meet our needs. More grammar schools were built in 1957 than in any year before or since. More high schools were built in 1967 than were before or since. There was a boom in teachers' colleges and the need for textbooks.
The toy industry catered to us with skateboards, Hula Hoops, and slinkies. Television responded to our child centered society with offerings of "The Mickey Mouse Club", "Captain Kangaroo", “My Three Sons", and "Father Knows Best".
When we hit our teenage years, our appetite for fast food made millionaires of the founders of McDonald's and friends. Unprecedented amounts of soft drinks were consumed, movie ticket sales skyrocketed when we dated, and acne products were suddenly in high demand.
And everyone knows what we did to music! From Buddy Holly to Elvis to The Beatles --- we invented rock and roll and the world danced the way it had never danced before.
We turned on, tuned in, and dropped out.
We burned our bras and our draft cards.
We demonstrated, we marched, we rebelled, and we were shot down ---in Viet Nam and Kent State.
As we entered our years as young adults with the responsibilities of families, personal growth and careers became a focus. Day care centers and family leave were suddenly a political issue. Wall Street boomed as our generation became interested in business and the future.
We had something to say and we made the world listen.
At each stage of our life, we have profoundly and irrevocably changed our world. And it's happening again. As with everything else our generation has done, our entrance into "mid-life" has caused quite a stir. Now we face the challenge of aging ---our parents' and our own. How we ultimately meet this new challenge remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. The rules have changed. What worked for our parents will not work for us. We grew up differently. We will grow old differently.
We will not go gently into that good night. All 76 million of us will go kicking and screaming and changing everything as we do.
I think this is a thrilling time and I’m excited to be a part of it.