It's a big day

What do all these people have in common? (No hair jokes, please)

We were all born in 1946—the leading edge of the baby boom generation. That means we all turn 60 this year and today it's my turn. In addition to the faces you see above, I share my birth year with Jimmy Buffett, Linda Ronstadt, Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, Diane Keaton, Patty Duke, Tyne Daly, Sally Field, George and Laura Bush, Liza Minnelli, Bob Vila, Diane von Furstenburg, most of the Pocatello High School Class of '64 and millions of others. So, hard as it is to face the age of 60, I do it in good company—or at least a lot of company.

Our sheer numbers have pushed through the last 60 years like a wave. We thought we could change the world and maybe some of us did—at least a little bit. We came of age in the '60s. Our youth was tumultuous and hopeful and tragic and exciting. It was the end of polio, it was the civil rights movement, the anti-Vietman War movement, the Beatles, the first man on the moon, and too, too many assassinations. It was "never trust anyone over 30". Now I'm a little disheartened by how many of my former classmates have become complacent and conservative and how we seem to be revisiting some of the things I thought I'd never see again.

But for me mostly it has been a good 60 years. I was fortunate to have wonderful parents, a great husband and the best family. I've never been rich in the financial sense, but I haven't been hungry one day of those 60 years. I am healthy, still have all my marbles (I think) and life is good.

So happy birthday to me. I hope the next 60 work out as well.