My brother and sister were born in '62 and '64. I came along in '69. We all led very different lives from yours. Our parents were married for 55 years, and I can't off the top of my head think of any of our friends' parents who didn't also have long-lasting marriages. Our parents had us watch the moon shots, presidential elections, All in the Family, and Carole Burnett. They let me choose 12 hours a week of prime TV I could watch almost without restriction. I was into John Denver with my mom and lots of adult contemporary/love songs all through grade school until a switch flipped and I discovered I actually also loved that classic rock noise my brother listened to. Grunge was the antithesis to all of that and I avoided it like the plague. Our parents took us on a Bicentennial trip in our camper across 14 states, getting to actually see the country we lived in and the places in our history books. I still have images of it that were burned into my eight-year-old brain. Our mom and dad were intimately tied into our school experience: school board, band volunteers, even helped lead the fight to save our school district from extinction. They supported us in all of our ventures, smart and not so much, and let us chart our own ways, no matter what that meant to them personally, e.g. watching their young son raised his first 18 years as Presbyterian decided it didn't take an became a Huxleyan agnostic who never set foot in a church again except to see what other denominations were like or to take his own kids to Christmas Eve services so they could experience that like we did. And they never challenged me on it. They were interested in what led me there. They saw my sister through three divorces and my brother through one. They might have seen me through one if not for their example; with it, mine's stronger at twenty years than ten.
I'm rambling at this point. Point is: Gen X contains multitudes. What we have in common is that we were the last truly free-range generation, and the last to experience the world of slow. That's why so many of the generations after us are envious of our experience, and even, in their words, nostalgic for a life they didn't live. All in all, I think we were damn lucky.
Totally agree with you.. My parents were immigrants from Italy and I was born in 1968. No divorces or nasty affairs in my growing up years but the old commercial about the North End of Boston and the mother yelling.. "ANTHONY" to come home to dinner--that was pretty much my child hood except my name is not Anthony, although I ended up married to an Anthony:)
“No one told you to have faith in the future, but you always did, perhaps because the culture never saw you as the anything-special generation (thankfully; it sounds awful), making you free, even at this late date, to dream.” Nancy, this is perfection.
My mom told me I could walk home from school alone for the first time on the last day of first grade. It was almost two miles, and I had to cross a busy street. I was barely 7 years old. It was great. I got to walk with a couple of my pals who had been granted the same privilege, because we were big kids now.
When my daughter was 8, I told her she could start walking down the street and around the corner to her friend’s house. It didn’t last long; her friend’s mother convinced her it was too dangerous.
My daughter is now 21 and has become a young woman I’m proud of. And I mourn for all the lost experiences that Gen Z doesn’t even know they lost.
I’m pretty old, what some people today would refer to as a “boomer” (so of course I’m responsible for Social Security, expensive houses, you name it). When I was young, the only reference you would hear to generations was occasionally the vague “younger generation” or “older generation”. Coming up with cute new “generation” names every decade or so and dividing people into these arbitrary generational tribes, the members of which have certain behaviors and other characteristics, is a recent and bizarre pop social phenomenon.
I was born in 1964, just on the cusp of Gen X and so much of this hits home, though for me it was Watergate my mom turned my cartoons off for, the transformational Detroit riots I didn't understand at the time and John Lennon dying instead of Cobain. But I too had a baby around the time the Berlin Wall fell (though my brother in the army was there and brought me back a chunk of the wall). I remember where I was when 9/11 happened. I too have been around long enough to have had a mother I once clung to in kindergarten to a mother with dementia who didn't know who I was. (Though your mom leaving you for 4 nights at that age is crazy. No generation would think that is normal.) Anyway, just wanted to say I really enjoyed your article and that there is no age limit to dreaming.
It is very odd to have someone else describe your life to you. I remember listening to Husker Do and being glad we were off the advertisers' radars. And always thinking of us as the blank generation (Richard Hell)
Dear Nancy: You're quite the dish! Wish I'd been that gorgeous growing up.😊 Three years ahead of the '65 birthdate, but most all of these things rang true for me as well. We were allowed to take our parents' cars out on country roads long before we got our licenses. It was free and, as you say, unspecial. Our parents' mantra was, 'grow up, move on, support yourself'.
I loved the arc of this tale. So much of it hits home, and much I only observed in friends. I am tempted to recreate something like this to cover my own journey. I loved the reminder that our moms went home the same pre pregnancy weight after giving birth due to smoking.
This does not describe my life. Except for the parts where it perfectly describes my life. Thanks for the nostalgic romp through a history we both shared but experienced very differently. Beautifully written. (I just turned 60 myself.)
As a Boomer; I would say a lot of this was very familiar; but we saw how the counterculture was destroyed by the Recession created by high fuel prices; inflation and high interest rates; ( that made living a voluntary simplicity life; not rich but poverty); and hippies said they liked Zen and the Art of Motorcycle " Quality"; so Yuppies got created; and we learned that music was not going to save the world before Nirvana; and we predicted the suicide. And for many; the counter culture slid into being in The Cult of MAGA or the Cult of Woke.
My brother and sister were born in '62 and '64. I came along in '69. We all led very different lives from yours. Our parents were married for 55 years, and I can't off the top of my head think of any of our friends' parents who didn't also have long-lasting marriages. Our parents had us watch the moon shots, presidential elections, All in the Family, and Carole Burnett. They let me choose 12 hours a week of prime TV I could watch almost without restriction. I was into John Denver with my mom and lots of adult contemporary/love songs all through grade school until a switch flipped and I discovered I actually also loved that classic rock noise my brother listened to. Grunge was the antithesis to all of that and I avoided it like the plague. Our parents took us on a Bicentennial trip in our camper across 14 states, getting to actually see the country we lived in and the places in our history books. I still have images of it that were burned into my eight-year-old brain. Our mom and dad were intimately tied into our school experience: school board, band volunteers, even helped lead the fight to save our school district from extinction. They supported us in all of our ventures, smart and not so much, and let us chart our own ways, no matter what that meant to them personally, e.g. watching their young son raised his first 18 years as Presbyterian decided it didn't take an became a Huxleyan agnostic who never set foot in a church again except to see what other denominations were like or to take his own kids to Christmas Eve services so they could experience that like we did. And they never challenged me on it. They were interested in what led me there. They saw my sister through three divorces and my brother through one. They might have seen me through one if not for their example; with it, mine's stronger at twenty years than ten.
I'm rambling at this point. Point is: Gen X contains multitudes. What we have in common is that we were the last truly free-range generation, and the last to experience the world of slow. That's why so many of the generations after us are envious of our experience, and even, in their words, nostalgic for a life they didn't live. All in all, I think we were damn lucky.
Totally agree with you.. My parents were immigrants from Italy and I was born in 1968. No divorces or nasty affairs in my growing up years but the old commercial about the North End of Boston and the mother yelling.. "ANTHONY" to come home to dinner--that was pretty much my child hood except my name is not Anthony, although I ended up married to an Anthony:)
“No one told you to have faith in the future, but you always did, perhaps because the culture never saw you as the anything-special generation (thankfully; it sounds awful), making you free, even at this late date, to dream.” Nancy, this is perfection.
I’m the same age as the author.
My mom told me I could walk home from school alone for the first time on the last day of first grade. It was almost two miles, and I had to cross a busy street. I was barely 7 years old. It was great. I got to walk with a couple of my pals who had been granted the same privilege, because we were big kids now.
When my daughter was 8, I told her she could start walking down the street and around the corner to her friend’s house. It didn’t last long; her friend’s mother convinced her it was too dangerous.
My daughter is now 21 and has become a young woman I’m proud of. And I mourn for all the lost experiences that Gen Z doesn’t even know they lost.
I’m pretty old, what some people today would refer to as a “boomer” (so of course I’m responsible for Social Security, expensive houses, you name it). When I was young, the only reference you would hear to generations was occasionally the vague “younger generation” or “older generation”. Coming up with cute new “generation” names every decade or so and dividing people into these arbitrary generational tribes, the members of which have certain behaviors and other characteristics, is a recent and bizarre pop social phenomenon.
I was born in 1964, just on the cusp of Gen X and so much of this hits home, though for me it was Watergate my mom turned my cartoons off for, the transformational Detroit riots I didn't understand at the time and John Lennon dying instead of Cobain. But I too had a baby around the time the Berlin Wall fell (though my brother in the army was there and brought me back a chunk of the wall). I remember where I was when 9/11 happened. I too have been around long enough to have had a mother I once clung to in kindergarten to a mother with dementia who didn't know who I was. (Though your mom leaving you for 4 nights at that age is crazy. No generation would think that is normal.) Anyway, just wanted to say I really enjoyed your article and that there is no age limit to dreaming.
Loved this article! Great writing. Just beautifully written! Thank you! Will be checking out more writing from you.
damn. nailed it.
It is very odd to have someone else describe your life to you. I remember listening to Husker Do and being glad we were off the advertisers' radars. And always thinking of us as the blank generation (Richard Hell)
'67 here, so all my beats and touchstones are pretty much the same. Since I am suspicious of ostentatious nostalgia - I appreciate your restraint.
I remember when the Baby Boomers turning 50 was big news. Weird to think that was more than 30 years ago...
This is great ❤️
Dear Nancy: You're quite the dish! Wish I'd been that gorgeous growing up.😊 Three years ahead of the '65 birthdate, but most all of these things rang true for me as well. We were allowed to take our parents' cars out on country roads long before we got our licenses. It was free and, as you say, unspecial. Our parents' mantra was, 'grow up, move on, support yourself'.
I loved the arc of this tale. So much of it hits home, and much I only observed in friends. I am tempted to recreate something like this to cover my own journey. I loved the reminder that our moms went home the same pre pregnancy weight after giving birth due to smoking.
This does not describe my life. Except for the parts where it perfectly describes my life. Thanks for the nostalgic romp through a history we both shared but experienced very differently. Beautifully written. (I just turned 60 myself.)
As a Boomer; I would say a lot of this was very familiar; but we saw how the counterculture was destroyed by the Recession created by high fuel prices; inflation and high interest rates; ( that made living a voluntary simplicity life; not rich but poverty); and hippies said they liked Zen and the Art of Motorcycle " Quality"; so Yuppies got created; and we learned that music was not going to save the world before Nirvana; and we predicted the suicide. And for many; the counter culture slid into being in The Cult of MAGA or the Cult of Woke.
Good job.