Setting the stage

I was encouraged by this post on the site How Baby Boomers Work
by David Neilsen called, "The Boomer's Second Act" that there is perhaps actually a job market created by the numbers, the normalcy of people staying at or returning to work in their 50s and even older.

He begins with: "Now that the Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, the world's golf courses and cruise ships are going to be overbooked, right?

Not so fast.

A study by Cornell University found that about a third of all Baby Boomers are planning a second career in their Golden Years. With over 78 million Boomers in America, that's 26 million sexagenarians planning to re-enter the workplace. That's a lot of workers."
http://howstuffworks.com/baby-boomers5.htm



That's the sixty-somethings! Wow, but times have changed in just a few months since beginning of the 2009 Depression. I was planning my career change and return to school for my master's before the economy (and my own finances) went to hell in a hand basket because of my desire for a lifestyle change from the isolation of freelancing and home office. Now it's not only a choice but a necessity....and I have plenty of company. And I'd rather think of it as company than competition for jobs!
(The power of positive thinking vs. the down down downward spiral of casting things in a negative light.)

Other interesting posts/information on baby boomers returning to or staying at work:

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/mixing-generations-workplace-can-be-challange

http://coachingtips.blogs.com/so_baby_boomer/2009/01/boomers-keep-their-jobs.html

What am I doing here?

Did you have a younger brother or sister perhaps who, when they turned six had, hmmmmmm, let's say a CLOWN at their birthday party! The birthday party where you were the big girl now (at eight) and therefore assigned the executive functions. The ushering of the wiggling little squirts into the club cellar. The instructing them to sit on the chenille bedspreads that covered the black square white square linoleum floor. The dimming of the lights so your mother could announce Mr. Smiley-Honk-Horn- Noseamabobber. As the squirts giggled, guffawed and squirmed you sat in the back of the room your sprawling legs too long to tuck into a neat compact Indian style anymore and you knew all his tricks. They weren't really THAT funny and they certainly weren't magic. You were out of place. This place was made for kids and you were too old.

Now I am fifty---nearly twice as old as my mother was when she announced that clown. My own children's birthday parties, their sporting events, even their senior proms are over. The house is far too quiet for my taste but on a hopeful day I like to think that a new kind of party has begun: the party at which I am my own guest of honor. After twenty-five years of raising my two boys (being a mother is by far the interesting and meaningful job on my life's resume) while working in a variety of communications jobs (news reporter, promotions director, advertising salesperson, public relations professional, freelance writer and published author) I have decided
to return to school for that master’s degree I never had time for before. I am hoping it will help me re-enter the workplace after my a seven year stint as a freelance writer----a job title that is synonymous with "Cave Dweller," for though it was satisfying (I researched, wrote and published books and articles on topics I chose and I was completely engaged in the process) it was LONELY and removed from the life- fires of others.

In this blog will post my own travelers comments as I walk through this experience----college campus, job search, life change at fifty, as well as the research and interesting articles, blog posts, comments from the life-fires of others---maybe even yours. Welcome.