Peter Ponders… Generation Boomer

If you stared in jaw-dropping wonder on July 20, 1969, as Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, then you are probably a baby boomer...

If you hopped into a Volkswagen bus and drove to rainy upstate New York for the Woodstock rock ‘n’ roll-in-the-mud festival, August 15-18, 1969, then you are probably a baby boomer...

If you were one of the millions of Americans who watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, on February 9, 1964, then you are a baby boomer... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Boomers make up the generation of Americans born between the end of World War II and around the time of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Basically, anyone born between 1946 and 1964 is a boomer.

The ‘60s were marked by major cultural, social, and political changes including civil rights, the space race, the Vietnam War, and the rise of a counterculture. In addition, the country was torn apart by the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

If you watched on TV as the Amazin’ Mets defeated the Orioles to win the 1969 World Series, then you are a baby boomer, but being a boomer is more than witnessing historical events Forrest Gump-style. It is about living day-to-day, cognizant of the youth culture we once controlled that now has outgrown us.

The big tech advances in my day were computer punch cards, satellites, and landline phones. Hard to believe, but there was once a phone booth on every corner and in almost every eatery. Unfortunately, what these public communicators provided in convenience, they lacked in hygiene. When you used the phone in public, you risked getting cooties. You did everything you could to keep your chin and lips away from the mouthpiece. You held the phone at arm’s length and shouted to be heard.

If you remember the TV repair guy on the roof of your house twisting the antenna just right to catch one of the three stations broadcasting through the airwaves, that’s another surefire sign you’re a boomer.

If you remember getting up early on Saturday to watch kids’ cartoons, you probably were a fan of shows like Crusader Rabbit, The Gumby Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Jonny Quest.

In the 1960s, there were new careers outside the home for women, too. If you remember Madge the Manicurist and Josephine the Plumber, then you are a boomer.

While we might not have been the Greatest Generation, we were definitely the grooviest, so here’s to my fellow boomers who continue to let the good times roll as we, ourselves, roll into the golden years of our lives.

Peter Reilly lives in Lake Mary with his wife and son. He can be reached at Peter@LakeMaryLife.com.