And, I'll take that on the Gen X

For the last 19 years my precious mother, a member of the Silent Generation, has been gladly taking advantage of her senior citizen discount. She knows all the places in town that give a senior discount and remains loyal to all of them.

McDonald's is her favorite. They give her a senior discount even when she orders Happy Meals for my kids. She proudly skips up to the counter, orders her food and then says, "And, I'll take that on the senior." This is kind of code for "Please give me my free small soda or my 10 percent off or my whatever-your-senior-discount is, thank you very much."

So, I was talking to my oldest sister the other day who will be 52 in September and she tells me she's just three years from qualifying for senior citizen discounts. I can hardly contain my laughter. My sister, a Baby Boomer!, is hardly the picture of a senior citizen. She's the principal of a school in Tennessee and will begin working on her graduate degree this summer. The thought of her qualifying for an apartment in the senior complex that our mother lives in is kind of freaking her out. Don't even ask what it's doing to me. I mean, didn't I just see this voluptuous teenager try out for cheerleader in the gym at Wilson High? Who stole my sister and made me 41?

So, I had this conversation with her where I tell her that I think since there are so many Baby Boomers in the world, all these businesses might have to re-think the senior discount, maybe even eliminate them. And, my sister, who has been reading this Generation X blog for awhile now, says, "Yeah, they're going to have to start going younger."

I thought that was the funniest thing I'd heard in a long time.

You read the article last week about Generation X getting hit with a double whammy, didn't you? The next time I walk into McDonald's with my two pre-schoolers, my tween, my two aging parents and my 42-year-old husband who works full time and is taking classes part-time to get a second Bachelor's degree so he can remain competitive in the workforce -- I'm totally skipping up to the counter, ordering my food, and saying, "And, I'll take that on the Gen X."

Are you in? We could, like, totally start a revolution or something. It could work.