GenX in Middle Age - We Can Get Old Better

I turned 47 years old this month.

My 25 year college reunion is this Fall.

‘New’ friends, have been around 10 or even 20 years. For me, ‘old friends’ have been in my life since the mid-1980s.

When my parents were my age, I had just graduated from college and started my adult life in Washington, D.C. .

My body endures aches and sports injuries that I have to take time to deal with — I can’t just ‘wait it out a few days’ and be sure that my running will feel easy and comfortable. A few weeks ago, I was in a kickball tournament and I literally had to hold onto the bathroom wall to sit down on the toilet for two days after.

But, most poignantly, the parents of a number of my friends and acquaintances died this year. Several are grappling with serious, life-limiting illness.

I don’t think I’m different than other people my age in that I’m starting to truly comprehend that I’m not young anymore.

And as a part of my generation, I witness people I know sometimes reacting (rather than responding) to middle age. Maybe a little ‘acting out.’

Some of us are in stereotypical middle age- sports cars and/or affairs with the personal trainer (what’s with the persona trainers getting so much booty?!?). Some of…