The number of Baby Boomer sites and blogs increases daily. They tell millions of post-World War II adults that forty years spent with the same person can be exciting. That sex in our sixties can be better than it was in our youth. That we can weigh the same amount as we weighed in our twenties with little effort. And we can take steps to improve our health and live full lives well into our eighties. Our grandchildren will flourish and bring us nothing but joy.

The Authentic Baby Boomer blog is here to tell you what you already know. Unless you are a rare and fortunate person, you know that all of the above is hogwash. At some point in midlife, you and/or your partner are likely to get sick. You’ll play the difficult role of the caregiver or the more difficult role of the cared-for. One of you may even die. If you are a Baby Boomer, you definitely have friends and family who grew ill and others who have passed away too soon.

If you’re married, odds are you haven’t had sex with your spouse in some time, even if you’re still in love. Chances are, if there’s a spare room in the house, one of you is sleeping there. And know this. Senior sex can be uncomfortable if not downright painful. Keeping ourselves in shape requires a calorie cut to match our slowing metabolism, and an amount of exercise our already aching bodies are wont to endure.

The grandkids may be treasures but they may also have disabilities, develop addictions, get pregnant or get sick. I’ll encourage you to love and savor every moment with them – until they decide you’re too old and uncool to be seen with.

However, the Authentic Baby Boomer is not intended to be a depressing blog. It’s simply a truthful one, an authentic one. It will tell the truth about growing older, without sugar-coating it.

I’ll encourage you to savor each day – especially the good ones. I’ll acknowledge that all days are not going to be good. I’ll encourage you not only to write your bucket list but to live it. If not now, when? Along the way, I hope to give you some good belly laughs, a tear or two, and an acceptance that you’ve – incredibly – arrived at a point in your life you never imagined back when you didn’t trust anyone over thirty.

Join me at The Authentic Baby Boomer and you’ll be glad you didn’t die before you got old.

Carpe diem,

Anne McCarthy Strauss