Ride that E Ticket in Disneyland on Your 70th Birthday!

Sandy Taradash and her grandchildren at Disneyland, Anaheim, CA. Sandy says she bought each of them a t-shirt that matches their personality.
Sandy Taradash and her grandchildren at Disneyland, Anaheim, CA. Sandy says she bought each of them a t-shirt that matches their personality.

That dreaded birthday was approaching and I realized I had been 70 for my entire 69th year! The day after my birthday I felt so relieved that it was over! What was that anticipation all about? Was it disbelief that I could be 70? Old people were 70! My aunts and uncles were 70! I was a Baby Boomer and we were all still 16! Regardless of what our birth certificates and mirrors said! This is simply not possible.

Sandy Taradash
Sandy Taradash

For the most part my peers are all in decent health, not like the last generation who started kvetching of aches and pains at 50. They started being older very young! Not us; at 50 there were empty nests to embrace, maybe new marriages, financial successes at its peak, fun traveling experiences. We took a dive forward into the new chapter at 50! Nothing could or would stop Baby Boomers from soaring!

But 70? Why is it so different? Why does it conjure up visions that are so disheartening?

Are we doomed to realize that there is less life ahead than what’s in our past?

Now that is the down-to-earth truth that is so damn frightening!

I wonder if turning 70 actually unconsciously makes us feel elderly/older sooner than when nothing has changed from the day before!

Ayyyyyyyyy! So it is a state-of-mind! Yes, having 70 candles on our birthday cake is an emotional/mental state that invisibly puts us over a hump we thought we could not climb back over. Hmmmmmmmm? We are Baby Boomers who changed the world so we can’t let a number or decade change us! We have to set the example for those young-ins that 70-year-old people can still do and accomplish whatever we set our minds and bodies to—WE ARE BABY BOOMERS and the greatest generation of accepting CHANGE! Just show them how you can maneuver your computer, your cell phone, your kindle, the TV remote….!

I was so blessed to have two great birthday celebrations, one in Northern California for my friends. My three children hosted a gorgeous luncheon, cooked incredible gourmet food while I felt so happy to share the day with newer friends. Weeks later 13 of my Northern California family went to Newport Beach, California, for a weekend, where we stayed at a luscious resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean and on Saturday 30 family and friends joined us for an outside luncheon while taking in the beautiful view. We cooked—we are a foody family—my son who makes a fabulous toffee/chocolate cheesecake schlepped it all the way in a cooler from NorCal!  All my cousins shared the day and we reminisced our days in elementary through high school along with all our BBG/AZA activities. It was such fun to hear, “Remember when—? Ah, those were the good old days…!”

On Sunday of that weekend, my three kids and four grand children and I spent the next two days in Disneyland! Now that is a perfect way to bring back so many childhood memories and fun! We had a blast, hours of E ticket experiences!

To share that fun time in Disneyland with my grand kids was the best!

If you ever need to prove that 70 is a state-of-mind, try walking, playing and keeping up with the young-ins for two days in Disneyland!! It was the best time ever and will keep me remembering I’m young for years to come!

I know everyone accepts change differently but I am all about showing the next generations who we are, what we have experienced, where we’ve been and most importantly, where we are going. We are a generation of role-models that have legacy to leave and I will not accept anything less than Baby Boomers leaving a positive, optimistic, constructive, encouraging, affirmative and upbeat history for our children and grandchildren to talk about and remember.

Yes, acceptance that there is less than more ahead is really hard to admit but we have to be the role-models that this is the cycle-of-life and the inheritance we are leaving is acceptance to change, showing we can live a full life in spite of hardships, sadness is permitted for what wasn’t and more than anything, we lived, loved and laughed.

Take your kids/grand kids, family or friends to a place where memories are made, take lots of pictures to remember, give the legacy of memory.

Ok, maybe 70 isn’t so bad and I pray to G-d that I’m here to anticipate 80!!

HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY TO ALL BABY BOOMERS!!

 

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