Step It Up

Yoshiko “Yo” Setser once said that when she turned 70 years old she would stop running. She is a year away from that now and has decided only to “cut back” after her March 15 birthday next year.

Two friends and I plunged feet first into a dance video machine called Dance, Dance, Revolution Extreme at Time Out video arcade at Quintard Mall. What fun we had!

We baby boomers are often called the sandwich generation, a term I don’t like. Although, we are in the middle of other age groups, the term makes me feel smothered.

I prefer to think of us all as tree dwellers, and most of those in my age group are sitting on the wide, lower branches of a tree. The metaphor suggests freedom and perspective, which is better than being squished between two pieces of bread.

One of my biggest disappointments when I “grew up” is that I did not get outdoors much. I remember sitting on the back porch of our house in Weaver with three small children at my feet and wishing we weren’t so housebound. After the children got older, I started working at The Star’s old building on West 10th Street, which was windowless. No wonder I spent years longing for blue sky and fresh air.

No matter what they call them, boomers ache and age. Parade magazine recently asked “What Would You Call The Stage of Life Between 60 and 80?” referring to baby boomers who will reach those ages for the next 20 years.

Each weekday morning I make sure the air purifier is on before I leave the bedroom. It drowns out the noise I make jumping around in the den and allows my husband to sleep a little longer. I hurry along to watch, on Lifestyle channel 23, the beautiful and older-than-she-looks Denise Austin.