12/12/52

That's when it all started. I'm an official baby boomer. We had a discussion about who gets to be called a baby boomer not long ago, and Bill and I agreed that he may be one (have to be born in 1945--the first year after WWII ended, by one definition) and I'm pretty much certainly one. One definition says that if you can remember Kennedy's being shot you are a baby boomer. I certainly remember that--I was in 6th grade. Most of the kids in my class clapped and cheered because they hated any Democrat. I was confused but knew Democrats were good and Republicans were bad. We had a great deal of solemnity at my house and watched the entire funeral activity stuff, John-John saluting, horse with backward boots, Jackie with tear-swollen eyes behind the veil. Later I remember watching Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on a Saturday morning while sitting in front of our TV (the big console kind, it was a piece of furniture we got in 1957) all alone in the basement. I was truly puzzled by that--was it a good thing? Why did he do it? Who was Jack Ruby? What did it mean?

Any way, baby boomers. The woman who's been dubbed The First Baby Boomer celebrated her 60th birthday this year. If she's truly the first, then Bill is not one, since he's 61. I always felt more that my brother and sister were fer shure baby boomers, being just enough older than I am to truly be a part of the whole movement. Now, though, witnessing the next generation and hearing them talk about their priorities and what they think they're entitled to, I can see that I am most definitely a baby boomer. Different set of values all together. Different sense of entitlement, different work ethic in many ways, though there are exceptions of course. I don't feel I'm entitled to much, and what I want I think I should earn. I should have a job, and I should support myself. I shouldn't live with my parents when I graduate from college or become an adult and I shouldn't be dependent on them. I should value the things I have and take care of them (OK, I have problems with this one, and feel guilty when I don't take care of things)--things are not always dispensable. I shouldn't expect to have everything I want at the moment I want it because sometimes I just can't afford it. Owing money is not a good thing, credit cards can make your life very unpleasant. Immediate gratification, I'm afraid, started with baby boomers and has become the mainstay of the next generation. I do believe in "if it feels good, do it," in the spiritual sense, not the fiscal sense. Mostly I believe in being responsible, it's what I'm supposed to do with my life.

So now I'm 54 years old, and self-sufficient. I have a house and 13 acres of land in the one place I've always wanted to live. I have a career I'm very pleased with. I went to college in 4 years straight (the only member of my family to do so) and graduated from the same place I started (the only member of my family to do so). I went to graduate school. I've been a librarian for 29 years and have never regretted choosing this as my career. I seem to enjoy it more each year, as new things come along. Thank goodness for the Internet, really thank goodness for the Internet.

I'm embarrassed that I get phone calls and cards on my birthday from people whose birthdays I neglect to pay attention to. This happens every year and I promise myself I'll change it next year. Today I'm having lunch and exchanging presents with my most excellent friend Barb--do we really have best friends? If so I guess she's it for me. But I didn't call her on her birthday, the 2nd, and I feel bad about that. She and I don't like having birthdays anymore. She's 10 years younger than I am, which she enjoys being.

I am 50 years older than: my dog Tess, my friend Julie's son Edward (Julie waited to have her cesarean until my birthday so that would be true) and my friend Karen's grandson Jacob.

We have a new option at work of NOT having cake with an uncomfortable gathering in the afternoon when everyone sits around pretending to enjoy being together to celebrate someone's birthday. That's what I chose. Hooray for me! Wait until everyone finds out--they won't like it that I don't have to be the center of attention at such a gathering. It's a new tradition and they're not aware of it yet.

I got a free cup of coffee for my birthday at my coffee place. Barb the Coffee Lady wrote on my coffee club card that today is my birthday in case she wasn't working so that anyone who was working would know to give me a free cup. That's how my day started. But then I got sleepy and pulled over to take a nap and was late to work. And now I have to catalog portable DVD players we got a grant to purchase, which will go to hospitals to be bolted to tables in waiting rooms for people to watch DVDs while they wait for their loved ones to be operated on. We get all sorts of grants to improve services for other agencies, but never for us. No one wants to give us money to put gas in the bookmobile.

Oh yeah, baby boomers complain too.