It’s been nice to see a few stories about Gen X in the media recently. After all, hi! We still exist! The media is obsessed with the Boomers (for what…4 or 5 decades now?) and Millennials, and it can be easy to forget that there is a generation in between the Boomers and Millennials, a generation doing quite well, thank you very much.
I’ve written before about my feelings about being a Gen Xer. They’re mixed because depending on where you get your data, I’m either part of the very end of Gen X or possibly one of the oldest Millennials. Most of the milestones for Gen X happened when I was still a small child, so while I remember them, they aren’t really my milestones like they are for someone 5-10 years older. And the events and habits that define Millennials are things that are at least 5-10 years younger than I am. It’s like being part of a lost generation, a generation that exists in some Never-Never Land.
This article about Gen X got it right. Again, some of the examples they use are for older members of the generation, but the overall feeling and characterization is spot on: Meh. I picture that utterance accompanied with a shrug. It’s not negative. It’s not positive. It just is, and it’s freeing. Because the spotlight has so seldom been on Gen X, we’ve been allowed to chart our own course and to develop ourselves without the sheer numbers that change society like the Boomers and the online opportunities to which Millennials are accustomed.
We’re here, plodding along, doing our thing, and we’re OK with that.
I could go on and on about the article, but I’m curious about your impression. If you are Gen X, do you agree? If you are not Gen X, what do you think, and if you work with Gen Xers, what’s it like?
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We’ve had a wonderful week with Daniel. After weeks of tantrums and whining and crying at the drop of a hat that was capped off by me bursting into tears last Sunday after a particularly trying afternoon, this week has been calm and pleasant. And you better believe I’m knocking on every piece of wood I can find.
That has been the definition of age so far: wonderful moments and teary lows. We’re hopeful that maybe this week wasn’t a fluke and that the Pre-K transition is over. Maybe our talks and warnings and consequences and tears have finally gotten through, and we’re able to reason and talk through hairy moments. Fingers and toes are crossed.
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We went to our local Farmer’s Market to buy pumpkins and flowers today. I’m pleased to say that Daniel is just as infatuated with Fall as we are. I got out our Halloween decorations when I was home on Monday, and he has been demanding one of my decorative pumpkins every day. We happily picked out pumpkins to decorate our porch and mums to plant in our garden.
It was weird doing all this when it is almost 90 degrees, but that’s North Carolina. Next weekend, it could be 65 (and I’d LOVE it!).
Pumpkin Man!
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I’m having a bit of writer’s block lately. I’m not even sure if that’s what it is, but when I sit down to blog, I can’t get my thoughts together. I have so many posts in draft status because I write and write and write and then just taper off, unable to finish. I’ve thought posts through in the shower and while I’m getting ready, but they fade away. The words don’t flow. I reread the drafts, and the sentences are awkward and clumsy, and the metaphors and analogies are silly, and I’m embarrassed and frustrated. I’ve never considered myself to be an elegant writer, but I expect a basic competence from myself that has been lacking.
Maybe I need to do more of Mel’s Pump and Dump type of writing. Maybe it’s a good thing that NaBloPoMo is next month. Hopefully the challenge of blogging every day will clear this blockage.
What I haven’t thought much about is whether my inability to write is symbolic of some other stress in my life (work, I’m looking at you).
What I do know is that Fall is my little family’s favorite time of year. While I’m stunned it’s October, I’m thrilled. Holidays, good food, family, fun events…all are on tap and being scheduled. And as the leaves turn golden and orange and red, I feel myself waking up and feeling alive. The beauty of this time of year hits me like a hammer, and I’m determined we will enjoy it.
Daniel among the mums
Family Building With a Twist 
I found the Gen X article to be pretty much SPOT ON for me. And I agree with you that there is a gap between GenX and Millennials that isn’t quite captured (but mostly belongs to GenX, in my opinion). If you didn’t come of age already having email/internet then you are not a Millennial.
This is dead on for me. I nodded along to it all, and I am barely a genx (1976). I am posting this article to FB, I found it that satisfying, relatable, and entertaining! Thank you for posting about it!
I’m 1977! Why did I think you were much younger??? Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
OMG, how is 1976 barely Gen X? I’m a 1976-er and I totally identify as a Gen X-er.
I had shared that article on FB last week, too. I loved it….of course, it was biased and very complimentary, but I still found it spot on. I was born in 1976 and I, too, identify squarely with Gen X despite being technically on the tail end. Meh sums it up very nicely. Some classify this mid-generation of Gen Y (between X and Millenials), which is probably an accurate representation of the late 70s/early 80s born, but I am hard pressed to think of any glaring differences between “Gen Y” and “Gen X”. My sister was born in ’79—we grew up the same.
I agree that the internet is the key factor in being a Millennial—there was a recent article making the rounds about Millennials, and a lot of it was related to social media which only makes sense of you were a teen in the early 2000s or later. Also the whole trend towards self-esteem and everyone getting a trophy in kids sports—that was NOT around in my day, it must have been started in the 90s.