The Joy of Being 50 Plus
The baby boomers are turning 50 - one by one, at the alarming rate of every seven seconds for the next 16 years. And just how many will be happily looking forward to blowing out a galaxy of candles and admitting to the world that they're half a century old? Very few, in Allia Zobel's opinion. But that's because they're not looking on the bright side. \ In a new collaboration after The Joy of Being Single (138,000 copies in print), Ms. Zobel and New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast take on another...
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The baby boomers are turning 50 - one by one, at the alarming rate of every seven seconds for the next 16 years. And just how many will be happily looking forward to blowing out a galaxy of candles and admitting to the world that they're half a century old? Very few, in Allia Zobel's opinion. But that's because they're not looking on the bright side. In a new collaboration after The Joy of Being Single (138,000 copies in print), Ms. Zobel and New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast take on another seemingly sore subject - being 50 in society that worships youth - and find excellent reasons to celebrate. Such as: -You can get a tattoo and chalk it up to hormone imbalance. -You can brag to your friends if a construction worker whistles at you. -You can have complaining contests about your bunions. -You look divine in hats and sunglasses. -You're old enough to be a grouch. -You can speak from experience. -You now know the things you wish you'd known back when, and still have time to do something about it. And while neither Ms. Zobel nor Ms. Chast is anywhere near the magic five-oh (it's the fluorescent lighting), they speak with authority as they advise all 50-year -olds to blow their own horn (if they have enough wind) and beat their own drum (arthritis permitting).
From the Introduction by Alliza Zobel :\ It's common knowledge that it's not age but attitude that counts. So, since you're going to turn 50 anyway (some people more than once), it makes more sense to treat the occasion as a milestone. Celebrate in a big way. Blow your own horn (arthritis permitting). Concentrate (if you can) on the pluses--things like free junkets to retirement villages in the Carolinas and being able to light campfires with your reading glasses.\ By the time you're 50, you can do all the things Mom said you couldn't until you were a grown-up. You can leave the table without permission, stay up all night and watch TV, and invite dates in after the movies. And, since people can't threaten to snitch on you to your mother anymore, you can do all the things you've always wanted to do: drink soda and let a burp rip, get a puppy and set a place for her at the table, and play connect the dots with your age spots. That's because 50's the perfect age to quit trying to be perfect, and to stop taking yourself so seriously.\ Admitting you're 50 frees up a lot of the time and energy that formerly went into keeping the fact that you are 50 a secret. You can stop memorizing a different date of birth, showing your passport with your thumb obscuring your age, trying to white out the numbers on your baptismal certificate and pretending you've lost your license when anyone asks you for identification.\ Truth is, there's plenty of joy in being 50--if you're open to it. It's the perfect time for folks to do whatever it is they have in their hearts to do--or not to do. After all, anyone who's lived half a century has earned the right. Think of it : No one can tell youto grow up anymore!\ Enjoy!\ Excerpted by permission from "The Joy of Being 50 Plus," by Allia Zobel, published by Workman Publishing. Copyright 1999, all rights reserved.
