I cleared 70 last Dec.15,2016. Narrowly as it turned out. And in the months since I found myself wondering how others in my age group were getting by.

Early boomers.

Born after the war but with the war very much still background music as parents gratefully, some gleefully, many unsuccessfully strove to put it behind them. I grew up in a household where both parents came from a family of four children. We identified as Italian American on my mothers side. We feuded with the Irish\Scotch German side on my fathers. I didn’t know them between 6 and 21. But that would be the second hit over the head. Doing my DNA and finding we were not who we thought we were.

In August of 2016 after 23 days of visiting family just going out the door and about to prepare for a trip to Glacier I sat down next to my husband to knit and had a heart attack. A 99% blockage to the main artery. A failed stent followed, open heart surgery Nov 14, and rounds of angina on to today. It’s a seismic shift. And business as usual at the same time. But everything is different. How to be. Where to put the time that’s left. What’s important. All of it now on a timeline of limited length. It’s always been so but now I know it.

Have always wanted to write. Have done some. Now have this impulse to write to others my age, particularly those I don’t know and have no ties or obligations to. Non professional sharing, among early boomers on how we are navigating and what you’re thinking. What’s on your minds. What’s on mine. How’s it all look to you at the moment.

Noticing the people living out of the Safeway carts under the bridge. More and more people.

Bindy