Sally: [Crying hysterically] And I’m going to be forty!
Harry: When?
Sally: Someday!
Harry: In eight years!
Sally: But it’s there! It’s like a big dead end! And it’s not the same for men — Charlie Chaplin had kids in his 70’s!
Harry: Yeah, but he was too old to pick them up.
When Harry Met Sally, 1989
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| Gif – www.hellogiggles.com |
I was 19 years old when I laughed at this line in theater. 19.
Meg Ryan played 32 year old, Sally. 32 was ancient, let alone 40. Now, I’m on the other side of ancient and the words don’t seem as funny as much as they seem true.
If you are a reader of my blog, you are probably a reader of other blogs as well. I have a feed full of posts to be read, myself. There is just one problem with most of the blogs in my Bloglovin’ queue. Most of them are written by those in their 30’s.
I just can’t relate to bloggers in their 30’s.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate the generation after Gen X. After all, they introduced the world to online diaries. But I need to read work of writers with whom I share the same phase of life. Less of the “Mommy” bloggers and more of the “Mom, What The (insert appropriate word for your household here)” bloggers.
Here are 10 reasons it can be tough to follow blogs of those 10 years younger than me:
1. I relate to women who can watch This is 40 and not laugh at the absurdity of it, but rather tear up because they know their life is on the big screen.
2. Instead of reading about pregnancy problems, I’m ready to read stories of women whose periods are lighter and less frequent. (Seriously. What age do they just stop already?)
3. I want to find women who listened to Joan Jett, not Britney Spears. Whose first boy band was Menudo, not N’Sync. Women who knew what it was like to “Fight for Your Right to Party” when The Beastie Boys FIRST released the tune.
4. I don’t want to read any more about the struggles of putting tinies to bed. My kids stay up late enough to put ME to bed.
5. Did you know these younger writers learned to write with one space after a “ . “ instead of two? It’s true. I still can’t get used to it. I imagine my 7th grade typing teacher peering down at me every time I move on to the next sentence.
6. Remember the first video on MTV? Video Killed the Radio Star began a whole new way of entertainment for my peer group. 30-something bloggers were born AFTER MTV was on the air. Shoot – we even had straight videos until the game show, Remote Control, came on the year I graduated from high school. The younger folk grew up with The Real World as legitimate television.
7. Twitter. Need I say more?
8. Before I put a story or photo of my kids anywhere on the interwebs, I have to make absolutely…positively…totally sure they will not now nor ever be embarrassed. It’s not so much I care if they’re angry with me. It’s more I need to have their trust. Those who grew up sharing every detail online have no problem sharing pics of kids on the toilet or photos of their offspring mid-temper tantrum. It’s bad enough to be a teen with Mom sharing naked baby pictures. They’d be horrified if I showed a new beau the first time they went poop.
9. Anyone born after 1980 looks at me strangely when I say:
Well, isn’t that special?
Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance.
She’s choppin’ broccoli.
It was ACTING!
I must say!
We are here to pump…you up.
I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me!
I’m just a caveman. Your world frightens and confuses me.
Okay, somebody stop me. I could go on all night…
10. Someone tell me where these Millennial bloggers are getting their energy? They wake up with young ones, do the feeding, prepping, bathing thing, and still stay up into the wee hours of the night writing. I admire it, I do. But these days, I take one trip to Costco and call the day good. I need to relate to women who have a decent bedtime!
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| This is 40. (+7 and +4) |
So I admit, sometimes I let the blogs of the younger set sit a while unread. Maybe I’m just jealous because I’m a little more tired and a little more wrinkled.
Here’s where you come in:
Are you a blogger over 40? WIll you comment on this post or ping me on Facebook or Twitter? Maybe you follow those writing through their mid-life crises – I’d love to read what they have to say.
I’m not so naive to believe I have nothing to learn from the 30-somethings, but I would like to follow a blog or two that makes me say, “Oh yeah. Me, too.”
*Deborah Beddoe writes Enduring & After, a blog in which I’ve been able to find mid-life support. Check it out!
*Edited to also include my friends David Ozab at Fatherhood, Etc. , who even though has a young child and is a dude, totally listens to the same music as I do and Cornelia Seigneur, who has kids my age and older and who writes beautifully about our phase of life.
Hey, Andee! Thanks for the shout out — and your post gave me a good laugh on a crazy Monday afternoon at work. I especially love #8 because I started using social media when my oldest was in middle school and blogging when she was 16 — I share more Facebook friends with her than anyone but my husband. My four kids are between 12-20 now & I can't tweet about anything without my 9th grader letting me know if it was acceptable or unacceptable . . . some of his friends follow me because of a blog piece I wrote about skipping school to go to the Super Bowl parade in Seattle — still my all time most viewed post. How disappointed they must have been that that was the extent of my a. sports references and b. permissiveness. LOL Also, FYI, my sister does a mean Choppin' Broccoli impression — piano and all . . . Your post is really timely, because I have been compiling a list of bloggers in my season of life for my 31 Days series. My criteria was: over 40, teenagers, plus job/career — basically because that's where I am in life. I'll send you my list thus far!
I would LOVE a copy of that list. I know we've chatted about this before, but really it would be great to have more of the over 40 crowd in my blog feeder. I need to branch out and relate to people more. I can probably do that better with my own peer group. 🙂
AHH, love this my friend! You rock and you are funny and you are awesome and let's find more. In fact, Jody Collins, a –something blogger whom I meet at this year's Faith & Culture Writers Conference said she wants to see more of these kinds of bloggers at our 2015 FCWC! – Appreciate you Andee – and your kind words!!
Andee….as Cornelia has mentioned below (smile) my friend Elizabeth Stewart (Just Following Jesus in my Real Life–a Portlander, btw) and I were having this conversation earlier in March after Faith and Culture 2014. There is wisdom and experience and balance and a whole bunch of other things for those of us plus 40's. Elizabeth is over 55, I am 62,just for the record. Yes, God has things to say through all of us…. Keep up the conversation. 🙂 (P.S. Visit also my friend Diana Trautwein–Google it) 🙂
Thank you for this, and I can't wait to meet Jody next year. See…maybe there needs to be a session for us old folks! Wait – not old. Experienced. Yes, that's it.
Nice to meet you, Jody! And I'm excited to read the works of anyone over 40. The younger generations definitely have a lot to say and I'm thankful for their energy. But sometimes I feel I need to look forward in my life, not backward – if that makes sense. I'm off to check out your recommendations. Thanks so much!
So, Andee, Deb told me about this post today (as we celebrated my 41st birthday together), and it did not disappoint. I laughed really hard. And, yes … TRUTH. I have to be *very* aware of my kids reading what I write online, they frequently stay up later than I do (I tryyyy but especially on weekends, I just don't make it), and, girl, I haven't had a period since 2007. #HysterSister #Blessed
I like to have friends of all ages. I always have. So I love younger and older women in my life, I truly do. I need them both. But I find that there just aren't enough of the older crowd with a voice in faith and in the blog world (and Christian publishing!) right now. Looking forward to the over-40s getting louder. Roar, lady, roar.
Well, Thank you, Deb! I feel a slight camaraderie with your sister – sometimes I think we're looking for the same things. And – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! I can't wait to hear you perform "Choppin' Broccol-ay-ay" someday soon, I hope.
You know, since I've posted this last week, I've heard from a ton of women over the age of 40. I think all I needed to do was put my need out there. I hope to hook up with you and Deb soon and we can compare notes.