I'm a member of the first class of baby-boomers getting ready to turn "seven-oh" this year
May 03, 2016
My birthday this year on August 31 will be a landmark. I turn 70 which means that I can admit with confidence that I'm older if not old. I'm a member of the first class of baby-boomers, part of a group of more than three million born in 1946 right after the end of World War II.
To reach this point, scares me in many ways. I know that I need to carefully consider what I want to do with this rest of my life. I have a limited amount of time to make a plan, 120 days, 17 weeks, three months or 2880 hours before I reach that mark.
What about a rocking chair
The only way I'd consider wiling my time away in a Cracker Barrel rocking chair is if it was right on the Gulf of Mexico and there was good wi-fi. There's no likelihood of the former happening.
Things that occupied my attention during my day-job years hold little interest to me now. In the past, certain things could excite my passion. I was trained to be and worked as a journalist for many years. Then I worked as a staffer in our state legislature where I worked with and around many different reporters everyday. At one time, I could get excited about politics. That's changed. Governing has morphed into gaggles of people at all levels trash-talking each other without regard for the consequences. The truth of an issue was immaterial.
Effective communication interests me
I still enjoy the whole area of communication where those with a message try to communicate it effectively to change behavior. Over the years, I have written hundreds of news releases, speeches and newsletter articles.
I've watched as people have changed the way they communicate, particularly through the use of social media and the web. I've watched and participated in the changes in this area pretty closely.
Telling stories with video
Story-telling is another area that has caught my attention. I have a personal story that I feel is worth sharing and I know many others who have the same. It's fun to see how this is done through the written word, video and still pictures.
My role as a husband, father and grandfather still excites me. I'm having to be alert to how these roles change as I and my family get older.
Remember the television show Parenthood with a group of grown kids who have their own children? There was a patriarch named Zeke Braverman and his wife. They all dealt with real life issues. They lived their own lives, but they came together as a family unit.
As I traipse through the challenges of aging, I want to continue blogging about it. There are things I will give a lot of thought to and others that will roll off the top of my thoughts.