The forgotten generation...

Lately at work, I've been reading a lot on Millennials, Baby Boomers and people like me, Gen X. We were born in between 1965-1980, and from all the readings we are not "really that special". We are like the neglected "middle child" and we are being identified as the "forgotten generation".

Just because we are less in numbers than the Baby Boomers and the Millennials it doesn't mean we should feel like the "forgotten generation". 

When reading all the stuff around my generation, it's quite depressing - financially speaking, we have been too busy trying to avoid bankruptcy to notice our own transitions! If you think about it, not surprising...our kids are still living at home and we are also taking care of our parents. In the last decade income has stayed the same, while the cost of living has increased by more than 25%. 

Economics aside, I feel I grew up in amazing groovy times and I remember very clearly all of my transitions! 

I remember the 70's disco era with Saturday Night Fever. I remember listening to the record all over again, and singing and dancing on all the songs. The first time I kissed a boy we were listening to "How deep is your love".

And what about the 80's. I went from being a "punk" with short hair with orange tips on it, to having the crazy 80's hair, teased and with so much spray on it that it would take forever to untangle, but that was the point! 

What about the movies from the 80's that I really enjoyed such as the Breakfast Club, ET, Ferris Bueller's day off, Back to the Future, Star Wars, Ghosbusters, Karate kid, Indiana Jones, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Rocky, Flashdance, Raging Bull, Scarface, Platoon, Rain Man, Les Uns et les autres and many more.

I grew up listening to bands  or artists such as The Eagles, Queen, ABBA, ACDC, Aerosmith, the Bee Gees, The Clash, Earth Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Van Halen, Pink Floyd,  Genesis, Pat Benatar, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, U2, Gun'n Roses, The Cure, Kiss, The Clash, Depeche Mode, Dire Strait, The Police, Metallica, INXS, R.E.M., Simple Minds, Man without hats, The Cars, Michael Jackson, and MADONNA...finally a woman not afraid to speak her mind, act on her wants and needs and always reinventing herself through the 80's, 90's all the way up to now.

I remember traveling for the first time to an exotic destination...18 years old and going by myself to Acapulco, Mexico! Drinking shots of "Tequila bam bam" at the "Baby'O disco" and hearing for the first time "Like a Virgin". 

I remember at 19, going through my own rebellion or as I would prefer call it my emancipation phase. For about a year I went kind of wild, meaning going from a very quiet studious super good girl, to moving out of my parents’ house, working in bars, smoking my first joint, trying coke (I did not like it), trying acid, only once, cause I laughed so much, that my jaw hurt for a week! During that year, I met different kind of guys, had amazing experiences and found out more on who I really was. 

Being a good girl at heart, after a year of partying, I went back to a more disciplined life.

In the 80's is when I also found the passion for what I do for a living. When you think about it, people of my generation were the first to embrace change, and not have as an ambition to work in the same corporation forever. I moved around a lot, and I do not regret it as I learned so much on many industries, trends and people. Change in my mind has always been a good thing. 

At the end of that era is when I also met the father of my kids.
It’s also when I really learned to speak and write in English. Spanish being my mother tongue, French my adoption language when moving to Montreal in the mid-seventies, and then learning English in order to have “proper arguments” with my husband.

In the 90's is when I married, became a mother and a business woman. I also remember wearing a real mink coat and it was ok.  I remember singing with my kids’ songs from the Spice Girls, the Back Street boys and yes Barney the purple dinosaur! 

In the 90’s is when I also discovered my passion for travelling and interact with other cultures. I was always ready to take-off to discover new destinations. And having kids was not a problem, I took them (and I’m still taking them) on my foreign adventures.

In the year 2000 is when I had to take a pause, think of what really mattered to me and find myself (again) or as I prefer to call it “My reinvent myself phase” (like Madonna LOL). And from 2000 until now, I’ve been experiencing and living more intense, amazing, unique, delicious and great life experiences.

So for sure, growing up and through my adult life, lots of talk on the Baby Boomers "power" and now on the Millennials becoming more powerful, but hey I'm very happy to be a Gen X and have lots of groovy memories. 

For me the economic power is not what we should aim for, but rather having a life filled with amazing experiences and memories.

Like I tell my grown up kids now…for sure I won’t leave them a treasure box filled with gold or piles of money when I died, but I’m sure they will remember all of our amazing crazy times together, our trips to various parts of the world and all of our life experiences we’ve had the chance to cherish and live through as a family.

So economists and marketing people (like me) can call my generation the forgotten one, but I know I will never forget how great my life has been so far and will continue to be until I disappear.  

Me in the mid 80's