"The baby boomers are getting older, and will stay older for longer. And they will run right into the dementia firing range. How will a society cope? Especially a society that can't so readily rely on those stable family relationships that traditionally provided the backbone of care?" ~ Terry Pratchett, English Author, (1948-2015)

Good morning and welcome to today's episode here on this Tuesday, March 25, 2025.  I well remember when being a Baby Boomer was a really big deal. Not so much anymore. I was born in 1946. That's makes me a charter member of the Boomer Club. You don't need a lesson on the birds and the bees to see the impact as soldiers returned to the states from the war oversees. This makes it easy to understand why births shot up in 1946 with some 3,470,000 born in the USA (20% increase). There's a tremendous amount of empirical data, reports, books, and analyses devoted to the impact of the Baby Boomer generation (years 1946-1964). A huge number of births. A huge increase in demands of all kinds. A huge amount of success. But, alas, today those 1.9 million remaining from the 3.5 million born in 1946 are thought of as a potential drain on the economic well being of our nation. Why? The boomers either have or will be retiring at a record pace. Boomers are living longer. Medical costs are through the roof to help them to live longer. Some have even said we boomers do not know when to get off the stage. Life unfolded the way God allowed it to unfold and I want you to know how I see it, whether I have many more years or soon and very soon I could be going home: 1 Samuel 2:6 "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up". Don't ask me to explain how God's sovereign will works because it is within His own purview. Nonetheless, my faith is in Him because He can be trusted. Amen. 

A funny thing happened to me on my way to getting to the age I now enjoy. Do funny things happen to you? I will tell you without hesitation, we have plenty of funny going on in and around where I live. I count it a blessing to still be able to laugh at the quirks and quibbles that make up each day. I chuckle when the wife says she needs to run to the store. Why? Neither her nor me have had our running shoes on of late. I haven't quite made it to the point where I try to straighten out in the wrinkles in my socks only to find out I'm not wearing any socks. I did however put my shoes on one day and couldn't figure out why they had suddenly become so tight. Maybe my feet are swollen I thought. I went on my way but later I thought I had better check it out only to find the previous pair of socks stuck down in the toe. Laugh. Might as well. I don't even want to think about how many trips we make to the car before we finally have everything we need to leave. Silly stuff. Like that. Yeah, I've passed that point of joking around about my age. I now tend to embrace it, knowing that each day is a gift. The other day I was getting ready for Church but I forgot I had put some cheese toast in the little counter oven. Talk about burnt. I can remember a time when I would have probably screamed, snarled, kicked, and, something like that would have ruined the rest of my day. Not anymore! I first inspected the toast carefully to see if any of it could be salvaged. (That's what old people do.) But, it was burned to a crisp so into the trash it went and I put two more pieces into the oven. My response? I couldn't help but laugh. I thought how multi-tasking might not be the best course of action for me. Live and learn and laugh. That's today's prescription for us all: Live, Learn, and Laugh. You heard it from a legitimate first year Baby Boomer, therefore, it must be something worth hearing. Right? I thought so too. Enjoy your day as best you can and try not to take it all so seriously. God's still on His throne and we still belong to Him! In Jesus Name, Amen.

 

P.S. I do recognize that I often misappropriate the King's English, mess up the grammar, and even get the facts transferred to the electronic page with an error here and there. If that offends, I apologize. I often see it after the fact and while it does bother me I've chosen to view it like this: "At the end of the day, it is what it is." I quickly add that in my rendering it does not depend on what the definition of 'is' is. (For any of my younger readers: PS is the abbreviation of “postscript” and comes from the Latin phrase post scriptum, meaning “written after.” A PS is an additional thought, comment, or piece of information at the end of a message after your signature. Use a PS to include further details, capture an afterthought, add a personal note, emphasize a point, give a reminder, or provide a call to action. PS is widely used in letters and electronic communication like emails, text messages, instant messages, and social media. Although the punctuation of PS varies, it should always be capitalized. Make sure to punctuate it consistently in all your correspondence.)