Our parents were, all four, Greatest Generation outliers, not in terms of year of birth, but in terms of mind-set and/or accomplishments, all of which occurred prior to our births, it seems. (Dad told me plainly he contributed by mowing HIS lawn.) After that, it seems, they quit being role models for widening their or our world, learning new skills, or reaching across their cultural walls...I hate to pass out blame, but most Greatest Generational folks we've met have accomplished so much more and developed a much less "rooted" existence. They are social and smart even in old age. Not ours who were inflexible, incurious, and planted firmly in place ideologically. DH is an only child, orphaned now in early 70s; I am the oldest of three and was inexplicably estranged from a surviving parent nor have any, even civil, contact with the others who consider us (all 5 of us on this lower branch of the family tree) unworthy of the time of day. They all live by Mom's motto: "No news is good news." I've had a rough time accepting their judgment over the rough spots, to say the least.
As Boomers, DH and I have had a pretty unstable ride on the teeter-totter/roller coaster of life because we put emphasis on keeping the balance, diving far too deeply into early and continuing technology for our occupations with older, IDK, manual skills of our parents/grandparents. It's a good thing I paid attention; some of those skills have kept us going. (Domestic skills like cooking, sewing, gardening). It all worked so well, until the 80s, but times changed, rules and traditions were discarded; it's been a rocky road, ever since. Putting it bluntly--employers lie, and I'm sure we haven't yet heard all of them. Still, our 49th anniversary will be in two days - not even sure that longevity's been a good thing--buy, hey, we're still better off than most--we'll count our blessings.
I hope our two Gen X and cusp kids are more balanced and not overly into jobs or housekeeping; they do use technology well; they like home crafts, and seem to have jumped right in to social life and community life, but I'm praying for the youngest on our family tree, that one little boy who will most likely be my single grandchild and his go at a successful life. Our family tree keeps getting shorter, and our leaves on it have arrived at autumn. Many things have to change or get better in America. If not, the country that we loved will be unrecognizable as one dedicated to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's the greatest sadness of all.
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