Posted on 07/24/2008 8:53:08 AM PDT by Incorrigible
By ANNE McGRAW REEVES
If you're having a hot flash right now, you're hot.
Hair thinning? Memory fading? Skin wrinkling? Don't give it another thought, oh, aging baby boomer. Getting older is now chic.
The Middle Ages haven't been this thrilling since the exploits of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men.
Just when those of us born before the swinging '70s are beginning to wonder if the best years are behind us, along comes a set of midlife Midases who prove that age is, indeed, just a number.
Everywhere you look — entertainment, sports, politics — men and women in their 40s and 50s are redefining the constraints of age.
Dara Torres, 41, [technically, this makes her Generation X] is the oldest female Olympic swimmer and the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics. With her toddler cheering from the sidelines, Torres beat swimmers half her age and broke a U.S. record.
Torres has won nine Olympic medals and stands a good chance to win more next month. Some have cried foul, suggesting that only drugs could have fueled her remarkable comeback.
She's heard the whispers, but Torres seems to be wasting little time on them. After you turn 40, that kind of gossip just doesn't mean that much.
And then there's Rocco Mediate, 45, the golfer who almost whipped whippersnapper Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open. Mediate took Woods to a playoff, finally losing on the 91st hole.
Another star who seems to have taken a long drink from the Fountain of Youth is Madonna, who turns 50 next month. Her latest album, "Hard Candy," features her mixing it up with young turks such as Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.
Videos to promote the No. 1 album show an ageless Madonna making it all look a little too easy.
The recently retooled nickname "cougar" is now more often used with awe instead of derision. Over-the-hill hotties, once discarded for younger models, are hitting their prime and hitting the town with youthful hunks 10 or 15 years their junior. There's no men-o-pause in their love lives.
Even Hollywood, that bastion of all things youthful, is finally giving older women a chance. Middle-aged actresses, once relegated to playing mothers, mothers-in-law and demented psychos, are heating up the big screens.
In the "Sex and the City" movie, Sarah Jessica Parker, 43 [Borderline Boomer], and her posse — including 52-year-old Kim Cattral — prove that there's life after hitting the big 4-0 and even the big 5-0. Fans flocked to movie theaters to watch the fearsome foursome party, flirt and accessorize like girls half their age.
Some of the most popular shows on television owe their success to such middle-aged stars as Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Mary Louise Parker and Kyra Sedgewick. Almost all of this year's Emmy-nominated actresses are 40-plus, with many in their 50s and some in their 60s.
There's even a new reality show, "She's Got the Look," on TV Land that features a modeling competition for women 35 and over. Meanwhile, age hasn't stopped rapper Flava Flav, 49, and hair-metal band front man Bret Michaels, 45, from searching for much younger soul mates on their reality TV series.
And in politics, Barack Obama, 46, has attracted young voters like flies to a fresh piece of pie. Obama's campaign has given new meaning to the phrase "popular vote."
Don't forget 60-year-old powerhouse Hillary Clinton.
So the next time you're looking in the mirror and bemoaning those roly-poly love handles, don't despair. Forty is the new 20; 50 is the new 30. You're not getting old, you're just ripening. And these days, ripe fruit is the sweetest.
(Anne McGraw Reeves writes for The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa. She can be contacted at citydesk(at)patriot-news.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
Im offended that a GenXer is being lumped in with the Boomers...*I’M* 41 and there is no way in h**l Im consider myself a Boomer.
Some of the most popular shows on television owe their success to such middle-aged stars as Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Mary Louise Parker and Kyra Sedgewick. Almost all of this year's Emmy-nominated actresses are 40-plus, with many in their 50s and some in their 60s.
There's even a new reality show, "She's Got the Look," on TV Land that features a modeling competition for women 35 and over. Meanwhile, age hasn't stopped rapper Flava Flav, 49, and hair-metal band front man Bret Michaels, 45, from searching for much younger soul mates on their reality TV series.
And in politics, Barack Obama, 46, has attracted young voters like flies to a fresh piece of pie. Obama's campaign has given new meaning to the phrase "popular vote."
Don't forget 60-year-old powerhouse Hillary Clinton.
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE BOOMERS! Especially Sarah Jessica Parker, who once starred in Square Pegs, the totally 80s sit com!
And dear Lord, I cant believe Obama is on my age group...how horrible is THAT?!
This is so typical of Boomers - lumping in people that would otherwise have NOTHING AT ALL to do with them simply because theyve got something they no longer have!!
Someone needs to fix this but my mother taught me not to use those words in public.
none of the people mentioned are boomers except Hillary and Close....
That’s what I thought. And, I don’t quite see Madonna doing her thing at age 60...eeeeuuuuu. I’m a baby boomer and I can assure you no one wants to see me in a speedo!!!:)
I'm not sure the original author of the article understands this, but the real topic of this article is: Boomers are over. They are done. No one cares about the Boomers any more. All of the focus is now on Generation X -- people like Kyra Sedgewick, Sarah, Jessica Parker, etc. etc.
The author misses the point of their own article. Sheesh!
For some reason Madonna keeps getting younger? In the 80’s when she first came on the scene she was born in 1957 like my Dh now she is going to be 50? HMMMM someone subracted some years there?
BTW, the baby boom lasted until 1964 so more than a few of those are babyboomers.
I’m 58 and I’m fine with getting older. I’ve had time to address a number of issues in my life and to do a number of things that I’ve wanted to do. I see no reason to pretend that I’m younger.
There. All fixed.
Great! Now you can hide smokes and a Zippo in your face and, when the metal detector goes off at the airport, you can just tell 'em "it's the metal plate in my head". :-P
LOL! Diablo Cody would be proud.
Course, anyone younger than me is from the next generation :)
You tell ‘em, Hildy! I think it has a lot to do with being comfortable in your own skin as we age too. At this age, I’m not out to impress anybody, I’m out to enjoy my life and the wonderful people around me. I’m a lot more laid back and much happier than I was in my twenties and thirties. :)
Great job Euby!
If you know who Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Orson Bean and Kitty Carlisle were, you must be a boomer!
As test-tube babies used to say in the 80's.... "Gag me with a beaker!"
Orson Bean = the voice of Bilbo in the Rankin Bass production of "The Hobbit"
I think you proved my point.
LOL - probably, but it wasnt really my point to DISprove your point. I was just remembering those actors for things they did when I was a kid. Cheers!
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