One question I often like to ask people is “What period would you describe as being the happiest years of your life”? While the answers vary they’re always fascinating. My mother remembers the first years of her marriage when they were living in “wartime” housing for veterans. I was a baby and my aunt, her sister lived just two doors away with her husband and baby daughter. The whole neighbourhood was young couples just like them. On Saturday nights they would get together (no money) with the guys splitting a six-pack while the girls enjoyed home-made chocolate cake with whipped cream. Women describe the years while their children were young as being particularly satisfying. Men often refer to times when their careers were peaking.

Another aunt fondly remembers when my uncle finally retired. For the first time in their lives, they were free of all encumbrances—no young children to worry about, no job concerns, enough money to improve their home and do the things they wanted and no major health issues. That reflects my own experience as well and among my Boomer friends the best time of our lives seems to unequivocally be the present — right now. We’ve all retired within the last few years after paying our dues in the working world . For the first time in history, most of our entire generation of women worked outside the home as well as raising children and doing our bit for the community whenever and however we could.

Here are just ten of many reasons we’re one happy bunch of Boomer Broads, living in the now and enjoying it more than any other time in our lives:

1. Nobody’s the boss of me anymore. No deadlines, no office politics, performance reviews or exhausting days trying to get everything done.
2. No more beeping alarm clocks on a cold winter morning reminding me to get out of a warm bed and fight traffic on icy, snow-covered roads for an hour to get to work.
3. Cheap movies. And I can take in a weekday matinée with no line-ups and a theatre full of prime seat choices.
4. Acceptance of our authentic selves. While time and gravity have taken their predictable toll on our bodies, we no longer stress as much about our physical imperfections. We’re happy to be healthy, able to walk about and do what we like. In fact, Boomers are probably the healthiest generation of our age so far in history.
5. As Mick Jagger once said, time is on our side. If all goes well and we continue to take care of ourselves, we still have one-third of our lives ahead of us. As we enter our third trimester we still have time to do whatever we want to do, whether it’s read, play tennis, golf, garden, cook or simply stop and smell the roses.
6. Seniors’ days at retailers and seniors’ prices on public transit are not to be underestimated. Now that we have the time (see Item 5 above), we can take advantage of all the benefits available to our particular demographic.

   

7. Our days are filled with doing whatever we want to do including finally enjoying those long lunches with girlfriends.
8. Remember when “What will the neighbours say?” guided behaviours? I’ll never be a Red Hat Lady but I do admire their ethos. Finally, we’ve reached that time in life when we don’t have to impress anyone. We’re comfortable wearing whatever we want and saying what we want, without consciously hurting others.
9. Our options are practically unlimited. We can move to a condo; go to Florida for the winter; travel the continent in an R.V.; sit and read all day; take up painting; learn to play a musical instrument; live off the grid in a cabin in the woods; or help build schools in third-world countries. Every day is Saturday and we can spend our time however we wish.
10. Free drugs. The Baby Boomers’ battle cry. Once we’re sixty-five, all our blood pressure, cholesterol, antidepressants and gout meds are free. Does life get any better?

Every day we should be celebrating the bounty that is being a Boomer Broad. I certainly do and I know my girlfriends do too. I’ve reworked some of the words to in the last couple of stanzas in Mary Hopkin’s 1968 hit as our new battle cry:

Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And think of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I’d see you in the tavern
We’d smile at one another and we’d say

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that older woman really me

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we’re older but much wiser
And in our hearts the dreams are still the same

These are the days my friend
We hope they’ll never end
We’ll sing and dance forever and a day
We’ve lived the life we chose
We’ve fought and now can choose
And we’re here to celebrate the day
La la la la…
These are the days, oh yes these are the days