Welcome, Youngest Baby Boomers!

By Sondra Forsyth

Here at ThirdAge, where we focus on the health and well-being of women 50+ and their families, we want to extend a heartfelt welcome and a happy 50^th birthday to those of you who were born in 1964 — the last year of the post-war baby boom. The oldest Boomers, born in 1946, are 18 years older than you are so plenty of people point out that your coming-of-age experiences are a lot different that those of people in the 60+ cohort. For example, Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 before you were born and Woodstock, widely claimed to be the pivotal moment in the counterculture movement of the “Flower Children”, happened in 1969 when you were still in Kindergarten.

Yet now that you’ve reached the (gasp!) half-century mark, many of your joys and challenges will begin to shift so that you become more like the older Boomers than you have been until now. You’ll probably be hitting the empty nest years before too long, you may become caregivers for your parents, you may soon become grandparents, your own health concerns may start to involve age-related conditions, and you’ll need to begin thinking seriously about retirement. That’s why we hope you’ll become regular visitors to ThirdAge. We cover precisely those issues every day with late-breaking scientific studies, first-person stories, and blogs by writers who are themselves “Boomers and Beyond”.

As you blow out those 50 candles, may you make a resolution to do all that you can to live long and well – for your sake and the sake of your loved ones. We’re rooting for you!