I was waiting to someone to bring this up, as I'm one of those who feels that age is not just a number, that it's far more important because it ties one with a particular time a place.
I am of the Reagan Youth.
I was 18 in 1983, and only know my place of birth (W.Berlin) as a divided city in a divided country that was expecting to be the battleground for war between the states and the soviets.
My own experiences have shown that now (meaning the last few years) I don't do too well with anyone less than - say 3 years younger than me (I'm 47 in a couple of days) - mainly because my generation was in a very different time and place than say some kid who's in their early 30s - meaning there is no possible way we could ever agree on anything, because we would never see things the same way - because of how / where we grew up, what was happening at the time, etc....
I draw that number only because (if I did my math right) it implies graduation of high school around the late 90's, which means they only know life in the computer world, where I still have fond memories of when a rotary phone (with no answering machine either) was the most sophisticated form of communication one could achieve (besides SSB HF comm...) and letters were written to be saved and cherished, while an email almost never cuts it....
(and before you crucify me for implying that all people in their early 30s are kids, that's just an observation I've made based on my own life experiences)
My generation couldn't wait to leave the nest ASAP (by age 18 - 21) and get on with their life, be it joining the service, getting a job, whatever - we just wanted to be on our own - and fuck that roomate shit too!!
This is something as a whole I don't see that today.
I instead see this whole 'sense of community' crap where everybody is living together wasting time but at the same time doing things they would have never done in their parents house (like almost trying to be responsible) and it just makes me want to puke.
Older folks on the other hand - there's no age limit there - because I'm closer to those generations than I am to todays....
About 2 years ago, I met a struking woman in her 60's after I was done sea kayaking and was in the process of loading my gear up.
We made some small talk, and it turned out she was an avid photographer - meaning 35mm B&W print film, none of this digital crap - and what was even more astounding was that she was very much into the NYC Art scene which sadly no longer exists, as I'm talking about what was happening during the 1980's when Art was really out of control there, as it was everywhere - gallerys, in the street - on walls, buildings - everywhere one looked there was art.
She was an incredible woman and I knew right then and there that the current relationship I was in (with a woman much younger than me) was never ever going to work because - even though we theoretically had similar interest, there was no common ground whatsoever.
Sad too, because she was a good woman - we just should have known better to get involved with one another - because our generations had nothing in common at all....
But that older woman, I never saw her again.
What I would do to cross paths with her now............
Funny enough, I'm thinking about going sea kayaking in a couple of hours - time to do a weather check
