My Girlfriend Turned 65 This Year

I don't know what's more surprising:

1) I have a 65-year-old girlfriend
2) I'm hanging out with the 60 and over crowd

When my friend announced her upcoming birthday, she made it a point to let me know she was going to become medicare eligible. She wore it as a badge of honor. And why shouldn't she? She has lived long enough to earn her medicare stripes. She paid for years as a hard-working employee and now it's time to collect what is rightfully hers.

But the cool thing is she doesn't look a day over 50 and, despite being diabetic, she takes good care of herself by getting plenty of exercise and eating right. Yes, she is among the first wave of baby boomers who turned 65 in 2013. She's gone from "Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud" to "Say it louder, I'm 65 and I'm prouder!"

It's funny how times change........

Ten years ago, I would not have been in the company of anyone in their 60's unless we were together at church, but it seems as though the older I get, the older my girlfriends have gotten as well.

In my 40's I always felt like the woman who had as much in common with the 30-somethings as I did with my own peer group. Now that I'm on the other side of 55, I don't find the conversations with 30-year-olds to be as stimulating or even worthy of a "girlfriend moment." Now don't get me wrong, there is much to learn from young people when it comes to understanding the new ways of doing business but when it comes to talking about hot flashes, grandchildren, husbands and the good old days, they don't share my journey. They don't KNOW my journey because they haven't arrived there yet.

Of course, there is so much they can learn from me and my older girlfriends but I suspect that they're not really interested in talking about personal summers and their idea of the good old days probably only dates back to the 1980s. But that's okay because the one thing we have gained is plenty of wisdom and experience. That's something that only comes with AGING.

Happy Birthday Paulette!

So how many friends do YOU have over the age of 60?