We are caught in the middle of Baby Boomers & Millennials.

I always offer this example: we didn’t have microwaves until we were teenagers.

We grew up with the American Dream, but we were the 1st Generation to realize it was no longer possible to work 20 years at the same place, own a house & retire comfortably. (See Douglas Copeland’s GenX)

We understand Baby Boomers but we also understand Millenials, we are the bridge between the generations.

We are the children of Vietnam vets, becoming latch key kids as women entered the workplace for the 1st time.

We are the women who weren’t encouraged to be doctors, but nurses. We are the men who were expected not to cry.

We are the abused, children of secrets, because the word abuse was not spoken or written about, until the 90s.

We are the teenagers of satanic panic, I wasn’t allowed to play Dungeons & Dragons.

We grew up straddling the standards of the Brady Bunch, and MTV.

We were the teenagers who shopped at thrift stores bc it was alternative, not bc we were poor.

We were the 1st Generation to be affected by marketing and branding and commercials.

We were the children who embraced star trek, and star wars, who thought we’d all be driving spaceships.

We are the leftover children. Of failed protests and revolution ashes. “If it feels good do it” “children are people like adults” with too much responsibility & too clueless.

We are the helicopter parents, who compensated for our divorces and mistakes by giving our children too much too soon and for too long.

We are the adults who were the 1st to date online. To be overweight, because when WE were kids fast food was a treat-not a habit.

We are the children who grew up hiding under desks in case of a nuclear attack. Who knew we could be , and probably would be turned to dust by a nuclear bomb from Russia.

We saw the Wall fall and thought Utopia arrived, that the world’s people would finally be free.

We grew up in a society where the “n” word was accepted & embraced, especially by our parents.

We were young adults when the AIDS epidemic was accepted as a punishment for gays, and people changed jobs so they wouldn’t have to touch “them”.

We integrated technology into our lives, but still are bewildered how a person can have 3000 friends & really, they ARE friends?

We had 5 types of hair care products to choose from, and we knew where our food came from.

There was no such thing as Google, we were the flip phone generation. We were the 1st Generation to buy small cars because they were good on ⛽.

We are the Disneyland generation. The materialistic generation, no who you are but what you owned and REAL ESTATE!

We are the Prozac and Ritalin Generation.

We are the write thank you cards , and send Christmas Cards, generation.

We did not grow up in the same world our parents did, and then when we did grow up, technology hit like a wave & we had no choice. It was either swim or sink!

Even a planet, wasn’t a planet. We learned to be skeptical. Everything we learned in school was wrong, and information was withheld or unknown.

Truth is multifaceted. We are the balancers.

So yes Millennials we get your perspective, although we may not understand. Yes baby boomers we get your perspective, although we don’t understand.

We are the ones who respected our elders, and don’t expect them to change. They did their time, they earned it. They are part of history, they are the last people who participated in real wars. Who had community and aspired to be families. When they are gone, something will be lost. They are the last generation who will have lived without awareness but also, without dishwashers and microwaves and Google.

We are amazed by Millennials, mysterious creatures who help us learn how to use Skype, or What’s app. Who discuss sex in mixed company, and have a freedom we admire but will never claim as our own. You are entitled, but that’s not your fault but ours. Helicopter parenting & the entire world at your fingertips.

But where did we go? We are the silent generation trying to reject and accept this brave new world. We are the first generation with perspective. We also are the first generation with fear.