26 Comments

One of the great lines, Jessica!

"How did this happen? And where had I been when this transition into uncool began? Was I at the chiropractor?"

And one of the great essays.

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Agreed! (...& I'm still looking for the answer to that question. I didn't get the memo either!)

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Brought a lot of laughs this morning! Middle aged at 40something! Now you get to sit back and watch those yongins make asses of themselves while you can sit back in your comfortable clothes and shake your head. Getting older I find is pretty good! Hope you’re well. Love, Ann (aka Sara SM’s mom)

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I'd love some of that perspective, because right now, at the cusp of 40, it just feels like an existential crisis!

...When do I get to "sit back & laugh"?

...When does it begin to feel OK to be irrelevant?

I'm clearly not there yet!

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Such an insightful funny piece. Gen X who were the first with desktop computers at work, also had to learn that there is always someone thinner and more digital right behind you.... :) The Alpha génération will catch up to and surpass Gen z faster than they think.

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But wait -- did you buy anything on Madewell? And if so, what?

I'm eldest GenX and also lived both analog and digital, Blockbuster and Netflix, and the different ways of making playlists -- and I also can relate to the bitter pill of no longer being the young and special generation -- I definitely felt that way when I was young, knowing my people were now (were *then*) cooler than the boomers we still looked up to. Punk and new wave seemed so groundbreaking. Now I do have to go google JNCOs because I don't know what that is! Great essay!

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We are Gen X our biggest gift is the eye roll at people not realizing we had already done all of that.

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As I turn 41 this year I can totally relate. Such a great read! Crazy to think I'm middle aged and a grandma already ❤️

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The trap in our culture is always to disparage the elders, overvalue one's youth.

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I FEEL this so much!! What happened and when?

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Hi Ash!!! Ya didn’t we invent those jeans?

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I'm still trying to figure it out too!! I feel like I'm experiencing emotional whiplash at what feels like a very sudden change in reality!

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This is worth more than one time through. But who cares 😂? I'm surrounded by older boomers here in Japan, and too far away from harajuku

in Tokyo. This is something to wonder about... Our daughters and their new families have not yet reached such a happiness evaluation point . What? Maybe 10 more years?

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Boomers: “we were the first cool generation”

Beatniks: “no WE were

Roaring 20s: “no we were”

Time marches on and history waits for no one

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hilarious. not having kids is becoming mainstream. Do NOT tell Elon Musk, though. He'll go off...

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Life’s a bitch and then you die. A boomer

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Side parts are for the olds....

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Wonderful article jess

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Great article thank you

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I may be a Zoomer, but my hair is parted to the side.

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I teach at a university and my goodness, the clothes on the students... it’s such a flash back. Baggy jeans (albeit with a higher waist) and baby tees.

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