Getting Old

Mr. Boomer and Mrs. Gen X

Hello to all,

Ten years ago, my friend’s daughter posted, “I went to Put-In-Bay for a three-hour boat tour.”

I commented, “I hope a storm didn’t shipwreck you on a deserted island.”

“No snarky comments,” came back at once.

“I am getting old,” crossed my mind. I made a wonderful pun referencing a show from my youth. Gilligan’s Island was a mainstay of comedy in the sixties, with reruns rolling throughout the seventies. Everyone over fifty knows the theme song and can recite most of it to this day, sixty years after its initial casting. I never felt so old as the moment I realized that this new adult had no association with my old recollection.

I watched a reel this week of a Gen X man going through the drive-through, and when the order taker asked for a name, he replied, “My name is Indigo Montoya,” in the perfect Spanish accent.

“How do you spell it?” came back in a perfect, hurried tone. He talked about getting old in that very moment. The young teller had no notion of The Princess Bride.

Getting old means our local oldies station switched from playing 60s and 70s music to playing 70s and 80s music. It means having to explain the phrase “drinking Kool-Aid” to a generation that should have read about it in history books.

The current generation sees no humor in “I saw the Guess Who last night.”

“Who?”

“No, the Guess Who.”

I apologize if this post makes you feel like you're getting old. It beats the alternative. The Boomers and Gen Xers can have our old jokes, references, and memories from our youth. It is a secret we can keep because the new adults don’t want to know it.

He Has Risen,

Danny Mac