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Jewish World Review May 19, 2005 / 10 Iyar, 5765 My commencement exercise By Lenore Skenazy
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Thank you for that warm welcome. Or is it me? In any event, I'm very honored to be here today, addressing you, my fellow late boomers, at the commencement of middle age.
In this season of graduations, I say that though we don neither cap nor gown (unless we are going in for what everyone now calls a "procedure" instead of its rightful name: SURGERY!), we, too, are entering a new stage, sure as any college graduate.
Only they get a summer off before jumping in. Us, we jumped in long ago and now our fingers are all wrinkly and we want to come out, but fear that all that awaits us is the beach towel that is death. And so —
Ahem. I seem to have lost where I was.
Ah, yes. As I stand before you today — you get to sit. Must be nice! Me, I just keep standing, despite the fact my big toe is beginning to bulge like a handle growing on a mug. And I know that for you, too, this is a time of new beginnings.
Someone once said, "A rich man is he who is content with what he has." Unless what he has is acid reflux. Then all of a sudden he needs Prilosec. Who doesn't? People are stealing it now. Ask your pharmacist!
After all, my fellow mid-lifians, that is precisely what we will spend the rest of our lives doing anyhow. Why just the other day I asked my pharmacist, "Who was that guy in the movie with Barbara Stanwyck about the Communists?"
And she replied: "Warren Beatty in 'Reds.' And it was Streisand. Is that a box of Prilosec under your coat?"
Sheesh! You casually mention an activity you enjoyed as a child — making popcorn on the stove, say, or fixing a mistake with whiteout — and conversation among your youthful colleagues screeches to a halt. Emergency anthropologists are rushed in to record your rustic tales before they are lost forever. These young people save your stories on an oral history Web site you could download to your iPod, except that you, being middle-aged but NOT Steve Jobs, are still listening to CDs.
And proud of it! For unlike countless generations before yours, you have made the leap from albums, even if your CD time line ends with Blondie. Who still seems incredibly hip.
And speaking of hips. . . . No. I won't go there. I will simply conclude with my conclusion, which is: Fear not! There are great days ahead. Days filled with joy, adventure, friendship — and not just the cottage cheese kind. As we enter this exciting lull between group sex and Grape-Nuts, let us remember how lucky we are to be here.
And how we can't leave anyhow until we remember where we parked the car.
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