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The Screaming Moderate

66 -- A hump age

6/9/2016

6 Comments

 
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Today is my 66th birthday. To quote most everyone I know as we mark the passing of time, “how did THAT happen?”

I have one daughter in her 40s, and one knocking on the door, and another waiting outside that door. I have six grandchildren, two of whom recently celebrated their 21st birthdays, two of whom recently celebrated their 3rd birthday. (I have range. Or my kids do anyway).

I am retired for a couple of years now, something I aspired to but never thought I’d achieve. I am happily married for nearly a dozen years to a woman I knew in college but hadn’t seen for nearly 30 years.

I have been on Medicare for a year and am about to go on Social Security.

I, thankfully, have good health. Though, in a sign of the aging process, I am having cataract surgery later this month, and I won’t mention those two kidney stones in the last year (but even with those I was lucky. No pain with either. Cross your fingers if a third is on its way.)

It really ain’t so bad.

But it is 66, just like that show 100 years ago with two guys tooling around the country in a Corvette. (Sorry to those of a certain -- younger - age. You won't get the reference.)

66 also is a number with other significance. Did you know, for example, 66:
  • is a semi-perfect number, being a multiple of a perfect number?
  • is the atomic number of dysprosium, a lanthanide?
  • is the total number of chapters in the Bible book of Isaiah?
  • is the retired jersey number of linebacker Ray Nitschkie of the Green Bay Packers?

But enough of my Wikipedia prowess.

To me 66 is one of those milestone years. I never was concerned about the “0’s”. You know, 20, 30, 40 etc. Those birthdays never bothered me much. For me, it was the “5’s” –25, 35, 45, etc. Those seemed to me to be going over the hump. Call them my Hump Years.

So, 66 is a big number to me. I don’t feel old. I still think I’m that 25-year-old guy I see when I look in the mirror (allow me my fantasies, please, I’m 66). When grey hairs fall on the sheet during my haircut, I ask the barber if she is shedding (even though she’s in her 30s, at most) because I don’t see grey hair on my head when I look in the mirror and it has to be coming from somewhere.

I’ve had a terrific career. I have kids who’ve turned out well and grandchildren who are on their own journeys. And I get to watch. That’s cool.

I’ve made some very good friends, some of whom I've had since have since grammar school and high school, and close friends I made far later in life. I’m very fortunate.

But, it also is 66, which means I can begin to see 70 on the horizon.

70 is one of those “0” years that is a biggie. By then I will have passed my 50th high school reunion – 50! Not sure we’ll have one, pretty sure I’d go. Last time I went to a reunion of childhood friends (just a few years ago), I couldn’t believe how all of them had changed so much. And I hadn’t.  (Please, again, allow me my fantasies. I’m 66.)

But at my 50th reunion I’ll see, I hope, fellows who were on the basketball team. Tall athletic, talented guys who almost won the state championship and who will all be 68 years old, like me. I kind of doubt we’ll play a pick-up game, although maybe they've slowed down enough that I can finally keep up with them. And I’ll see all those cute girls I never thought I had a chance with. And, probably still wouldn't.

And I’m looking forward to it all.

It’s far better than the alternative.


6 Comments
Bobbie
6/9/2016 09:14:56 am

I, for one, am so happy to have known you in high school and again in our later years! You are a nice man and a dear friend! Happy hump year and I have your back... that is, I am just a few months behind you!🎉

Reply
Karen Drazen
6/9/2016 10:19:12 am

Happy birthday, long time friend. I'm so glad that we've reconnected through facebook and hope to see you face to face before long (while we still have a chance of recognizing each other). Be well, Karen

Reply
Glenn Orkin
6/9/2016 11:48:11 am

thanks BJ, it brings a smile to my 66 year old face. happy birthday

Reply
Lois ALbert aka Kari Trupkin
6/9/2016 08:13:28 pm

I wished you an early Happy Birthday last week due to a post on Facebook. Hope your day is filled with lots of love and laughter!

Reply
Michael London link
6/10/2016 05:23:51 am

I still think of you as being 18 or so and a Phi Beta brother. That can not possibly be 50 years ago. It has been fun following your career from Waterbury to the White House and beyond. Looking forward to following you through the next exciting chapter.......
Oh...happy birthday....

Reply
Gerry Nelson link
6/23/2016 10:43:51 am

I missed your birthday. It's good to age with an open mind. I hope you are doing well. Jenny is a treat to work with. Is Donald Trump the 'raw edge' of the republican party's direction and philosophy? Over the years I have seen the pandering of the republican party to the people in the fringes of our society. NRA, Religious 'RIGHT', pro life advocates and the top financial groups that make up our country. Single issue voters. Is Mr. D epitomize the 'raw' edge of these politics? Bernie is the opposite of Mr. D. Maybe he epitomize's the Social Democrat party. Will we find a middle to all of this. Will it take a mad man in the 'HOUSE' (God forbid this ever happens) with an AK 47 to have our politicians wake up? Where is the sanity of 'All men are created equal'? On another note our business has never been better with President Obama at the helm! I believe he is a Jimmy Carter (celebrating 70 years of marriage) with great positive growth for the people of the USA. Opposite of Regan. He has done a 'Trickle Up' economy. :o) Hope you are well and see many more birthdays.
Gerry Nelson

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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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