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By Julie Grenness

I just read of an interesting new era for Boomer Babes — Queenage!  

It is a term originating in the United States of America. This is a fresh approach for aging women, any of us over 45 years old. We, the baby boomer babes, have our own chirpy attitudes.

We can feel even more empowered at our age than other women of previous generations. That is one theory. Although I have to say that my late mother and her ancestors were very empowered, feisty senior women until the debilitating claws of geriatricity snared them. Grand old ladies, one and all. None of that old "Father Knows Best" stuff.

Boomer babes can write our own manifesto, as we have a cuppa and a laugh. When we were younger, we ate whatever we liked with gusto. But that food fun did not last forever. We became fair, fat and 40. We ended up with gallstones as big as old pizza pies. Along the way, we discovered that all our ‘bad’ calories had descended to our thunder thighs. Sigh, cellulite!

That is the reason we are now known as Queenagers. We do not bother competing with teenage girls. Why would we bother? We may have a lot to offer, but who really is asking? Still, it is not the end of the universe.

Our Queenage years are a time of possibilities. We arise and put on our big girl boots. Lots of boomer babes used to travel overseas to explore different cultures and cuisines. We were boomer babes with adventure. That was before the pandemic; now we are stay-at-homes.

But we arise to shower. When we look in the mirror, who is that old person staring back at us, we ask? Never mind, we are only as old as we feel. We are now discovering what all that wrinkle cream has done to our faces. Haha. Those are not crocodile shoes, boomer babes, those are our feet!  Gravity has won. Everything just sags, quite comfy really!

So, O Queenagers, the boomer babes we are, this time of our lives can still be an era of doing all the things we have always dreamed about achieving, more online than before.  Even if we ain’t Dolly Partons. We got old. We made it!

We can contribute to our communities in lots of ways and find our own contentment. Our girlish figures may or may not have disappeared. But when we gather, you can still think of us as giggling Gerties. No need for pity parties for us. Yes, this is a new era for boomer babes — Queenage!

— Julie Grenness

Julie Grenness is a poet and writer in Australia. She’s a former teacher who now tutors and mentors young people.