Baby Boomer, Are You a Late Bloomer? It's Never Too Late!

If you're a baby boomer like myself, what the hell are you waiting for...the Golden Years? Get real, these ARE the golden years! And if you're not already living what time you have left to the fullest, well...when do you think you will? There's never going to be a better time than right now. God knows, I sure waited long enough to wake up and smell the coffee. 

I'm traveling across country right now in a labor of love I fondly call Vintage van Go[gh] ~ a 1970 VW hippie love bus. Why? Why climb a mountain? Because it's there! In this case, making a road trip across country in an old VW bus is on my Bucket List. I never did it back when I was eighteen, for too many reasons. But none of those reasons exist today to prevent me, so no matter what others may think or say about the venture, I'm damn sure doing it!

Like my old bus, I should have bought in to the extended warranty plan back when I had the chance, but...oh well. Now, on any given day my joints hurt, I have less energy, I'm quickly developing cataracts, and I find it more and more important to always know where the nearest toilet is ~ you know, just in case.

Nonetheless, I want to see the Grand Canyon while I still can, hike through the tall Redwoods while I can still walk, hug a giant Sequoya just because it's there, and because I'm a tree hugger. From my years of professing college English, I have come to respect nouns as the most important to my life: people, places, and things.

I have to make this journey because, all along the way, there are exotic and interesting people I've yet to meet; great places, big and small I've yet to visit; and fun, adventurous things I've yet to experience. And, truth be known, none of it will ever happen unless I, with the help of Bayer aspirin (and a little medicinal brandy), don't MAKE it happen.

Ever since completing the Graduate Writing Program at Johns Hopkins, I've been wanting to write a fiction novel. I've managed to crank out magazine articles along the way, but never seemed to have the time to tackle a book project. The idea for the book presented itself eight years ago, and for eight years it's layed dormant. Well, on this trip, it's being resurrected, and I'm making the time. My goal is to complete it by this journey's end. I say "this," because I wish to leave the door open for the next!

If I can do it, you can do it; not necessarily taking a roadtrip and writing a novel, like me, but whatever YOUR longtime fantasy has been that you've been putting off for way too long. Don't die with the best part of your life's story still in you!

I would like to leave you with a poem, that kind of relates:

Late Bloomer

Forever and a day,

I regret to say,

I have lived my life

for others.

Not knowing why,

it was do it, or die,

sacrificing all my

own druthers.

If you were to ask,

take me to task,

I’d not been able

to answer,

who, or what I am,

the King of Siam,

Donner, Blitzen, or

Prancer?

Am I gay, or straight?

Is it ever too late,

to change once I

ever find out?

As far a preference,

I have no reference.

Perhaps you’d help

rid the doubt.

Yes,

I’m a late bloomer;

it’s not just a rumor;

my mottos in life

are all new:

if it feels good, do it;

always pursue it; and

to thine own self

always be true.

~gduerrschmidt