”OMG: Mick Jagger is how old?” is the title of an editorial by Gail Collins in the Miami Herald, July 31, 2013. Of course, it caught my eye. It seems that, impossible as it may seem, Mick Jagger is physically age 70. I say he is physically age 70 because Mick Jagger will never act age 70. That is just the theme Gail Collins writes about:
But about turning 70. A lot of the great stars of ‘60’s music were born during World War II, clocking in just before the baby boom. So they’ve always been the senior citizens of their own, spectacularly youth-oriented generation.
She quotes Paul Simon, who is now 71, who says, “It’s not terrible, but it is strange . . . .I was thinking of my grandfather. What he was is a lot different from what I am.” Ms. Collins says, “of course, in 1965, 70 actually was old, as opposed to now, when it’s the new 50. Or in Jagger’s case, I guess, the recycled 17. . . .There’s nothing more natural than denial. . . .And Jagger was not actually commenting on the viability of the Rolling Stones as a long-term proposition, but simply expressing a determination never to be middle-aged.”
This Grandma, in denial, will gladly take the new 50 as where I stay.
Ms. Collins says, “But maybe some people can will their way around the aging process. Or, at least, if you’re doing something you love to do, you can rise above it.”
Aha! Performers still successfully performing after decades is what Boomer Grandmas are all about. We cannot bear to say the word, “old,” much less think it applies to us. Performers are our role models and we can never see ourselves as anything but successfully performing for decades longer. We Boomers have rewritten history in our huge numbers and we continue to do so. We will successfully continue to perform and enjoy our youthful vitality for longer than anyone will imagine today. We will always remain a “spectacularly youth-oriented generation.” Mark Gail Collin’s and my words!
Meet you at the next Rolling Stones concert in my skinny jeans and t-shirt that my daughters in their 30s also wear with…
Joy,
Mema
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