I went for breakfast with a coworker this morning.  We are fairly similar in age and are of the same mindset in many ways.  Talking with him we discussed work, people, children, movies, and the 80’s.  He has a similar outlook on life as I did. Where as I saw television as a “third parent”, he called it “the church of tv”.  TV was where we learned our moral compass and how to be decent people in this world.

I often forget how old I am. All it takes is a breakfast with a friend for the realization to creep up on me. We laughed about bad movies and the stupid people we know.  But what gets me is how right he was about our ages.  For some reason we grew up in the vortex of being able to relate to nearly everyone.  We saw the rise of cable tv, video games, portable communication devices, the internet… We are also witnesses to the decline of some of those things as well. And then the rise of nostalgia for it all.

I don’t need to share those lists that float around on Facebook about “growing up in the 80’s” or “being a kid in the 90’s” for me to understand that I did both.  I even survived the 00’s and the tail end of the 1970’s.  I can relate to nearly everyone I meet on some level.  Except for people in their 60’s-70’s.

That is the age group of people who would fit in to my parents’ category.  They are set in their ways.  They feel like they’ve done their share in the world and that they are owed something.  It’s the age of retirement. The idea of “I put in my time, now the world owes me.”  It’s as if that age reverts back to being a two year old that doesn’t need to give a shit about anything but themselves. Which is completely understandable.  When I hit retirement age, I’m pretty sure I won’t want to answer to anyone either.

I don’t ever act my age.  Sometimes I’m immature.  Sometimes I’m extremely serious. It all depends on the situation.  I don’t have a set age to behave like.  So I just enjoy life and being me.  Now get off my lawn!