“Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…. WHO THE HELL IS THAT?”

Ok! Ok! Ok! We are all Baby Boomers who either fashion ourselves from Haight-Ashbury, Rodeo Drive, 5^th Avenue or somewhere in between! We either care or we don’t care what we look like and the older we get, it either matters more, matters less or somewhere in between! But, let’s agree, we all have our own style, even if it’s not coming down the red carpet. The Baby Boomer generation created the idea that all fashion is me!

At age 72, Sophia Loren was voted the most beautiful woman in the world — The Independent

One of my BFFs recently told me she was in Macy’s and passed by a mirror and saw a woman that she sort of recognized but couldn’t place and was so surprised her acquaintance was wearing the exact dress she was wearing. Her first thought was, “What are the odds?” She turned around to go and say “hi” but as she approached the mirror, a shock wave attacked her entire being while realizing the person in the mirror was herself!

My one regret in life is that I’m not someone else. —Woody Allen, Director/Screenwriter

When did we become only a past reflection of ourselves? When did those wrinkles appear? Why such dark circles under the eyes when Ambien offers more sleep than ever before? And what are those freckly spots all over? Has anyone else noticed? Or is this aging stuff so gradual, like not noticing how your grandson’s so much taller or his voice deeper because you see him so often, that we don’t even see the growing older changes in ourselves? When it’s one of our kids or grandkids, we don’t say, “Oh, look how they are aging,” no, it’s, “Boy, how they have grown!”

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that happen in life —Leon Trotsky, Revolutionary

So why is it when adults hit their 50s, the language changes? Why can’t it just be that we are “maturing?” because that’s actually what it is, isn’t it? Oh, common, help me out here! I hate when someone refers to their age as old and how old they’re getting! Really! Age is a state of mind, remember, WE BABY BOOMERS INVENTED A STATE OF MIND! How else could we describe psychedelic/trippy/mind-bending/altering/expanding surreal experiences? We’ve grown up while living in a state of mind! There is and never will be a more significant generation than us Baby Boomers!

Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age. —Victor Hugo, Writer

“Old” was our grandparents and great aunts and uncles. Then parents and their peers started to have wisps of gray hair, crow’s feet lining their eyes and then declined to take that after-Thanksgiving-dinner-walk. We all probably silently thought, “I will never look or act like that! No! Not me!” But then the realization that the aging process has not overlooked the Baby Boomer generation, as sure as we thought it might! It’s a jolt; it’s a life-changing concept that interferes with everyday life. I almost want to say, “If we let it,” but aging enters most aspects of our lives and we have the choice on how to accept or decline its invitation.

You bend down to pick something up off the floor, then begin wondering what else you could do while you’re down there! —Anonymous

Aches and pains, the eyes, arthritis, G-d forbid major illness, death of a spouse, divorce, jobs/retirement, down-sizing, hate-the-cold-weather, kids moving away, kids moving back home, friendships changing, financial status is not the same, your team keeps loosing, food doesn’t taste the same, they closed your favorite restaurant, and all these electronics!

HELP! BRING BACK THE 60s!

By the time we’ve made it, we’ve had it! –Malcolm Forbes, Publisher

Oy, who said, “Too bad youth is wasted on the young?” If we only knew then what we know now. What would you change? Do you have regrets? Can you live with them? Can you rewrite your story with an ending that satisfies your dreams? Oy, such questions to ponder, makes my head spin. Right now I’m going to grab my three clickers and the post-it that has the instructions my grandson wrote out for me so I can watch House of Cards on Netflix.

Age is a high price to pay for maturity. –Tom Stoppard, Playwright

And yet tomorrow I will finish filling out my Advance Healthcare Directive; I will attend a new book club where I know no one; I will try a new restaurant after the hike with my classmates from a writing class and I will cheer for the Giants even though I am a die-hard Dodger fan!

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. —Anonymous

And we should always remember that laughter is the one constant that can change the day, make for happy endorphins, allows the sun to shine brighter, makes the rain sound like music and creates an “all is well in the world.” And G-d only knows, we need more of that! Bring it on!

I said to my husband, “My boobs have gone, my stomach’s gone—say something nice about my legs!” He said, “Blue goes with everything.” –Joan Rivers, Comedian

I am at an age where my back goes out more than I do! —Phyllis Diller, Comedian

My health is good; it’s my age that’s bad. —Ray Acuff, Country Music Singer

Question: To what do you attribute your long life? Answer: To the fact that I haven’t died yet! —Sir Malcolm Sargent, Conductor/Composer

I exercise every morning without fail. Up, down. Up down. And then the other eye! —Phyllis Diller, Comedian

What is the secret to your long life? Answer: Keep breathing. —Sophie Tucker, Singer/Comedian

In the middle of the nineteenth century, an English poet named Robert Browning wrote: “Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.” Clearly this man was a minor poet! —Joan Rivers, Comedian

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essayist, summed it all up: Live well, learn plenty, love much, laugh often…

I am burdened by my experiences

And displaced because of my decisions

Which forever have altered my journey.

But I am not G-d

And can only let serendipity lead me.

 Feel free to comment or share your story. setaradash@gmail.com

Sandra Taradash

As a Baby Boomer Bubbe who still feels 18 but has four grand kids to prove this is the 21 Century, Sandra writes to leave a legacy for the next generations. Her belief that these precious kids need to know their cultural and family’s past in order for them to live their future is all the muse she needs!

She has a Master’s Degree in Psychology and Cross Cultural studies, has written a family history, personal memoir and is completing her first novel.

Her grandmother’s journey to America and life is her source for her deep belief and love for Judaism.