Okay Boomers

“Okay, boomer” will go down in history as one of the funniest (and truest) ways to shut down a boomer whining about younger generations who just don’t get it. But this episode is not about what boomers don’t understand. This is an appreciation episode about the boomers who get it. Nora and friend of the pod Caroline Moss are here to tell you all about their favorite boomers. It’s time to give them their flowers, so we hope today’s episode will inspire you to show your appreciation for YOUR favorite boomers.

@linwolfgang

mom can you pick me up the old art teacher is going at it again #foryoupage #genz #foryou

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Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

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Hi.

Hi.

Hi there. Hi.

Hi. Hey, Nora.

I’m Nora McInerny, and this is Thanks For Asking, a call-in show about what matters to you.

In 2019, a young TikTok user named Lin Wolfgang stitched a video of a boomer man who was complaining about younger generations, basically saying that millennials and Gen Z have Peter Pan syndrome and don’t want to grow up.

In this video, Lin sits down and starts to take notes on this guy’s rant. And in the end, they hold up a notebook to show that all they wrote was one sentence, two words. Okay, boomer.

Those are two words that basically just say, look, you don’t get it. It is catchy, it’s funny, it is caught on. That is a catchphrase that I think everybody knows and probably everybody uses because of course, there’s some truth to it.

There’s some truth to the fact that there are some things that boomers just don’t get, just like me as a cringey millennial, will have plenty of things that I don’t get about subsequent generations and their experiences.

The world that boomers became adults in is very different than the world that I became an adult in as a millennial, which is even different than the world that Gen Z is becoming an adult in right now, but I got to just focus on these two generations

for the sake of this conversation. Everything is different. Marriage rates are down from about 68 percent in 1980 for people age 25 to 34. That, you know, prime wedding season that you think of, that’s 40 to 44 percent for millennials.

Even the median age of marriage has climbed from age 21.1 for women in 1975 to 28.4 for women today. And a little older for men, from 23.5 to about age 30, when boomers were 25 to 34, 60 percent of them lived on their own in their own homes.

What was that number for millennials? 43 percent, 47 percent. A lot of that has to do with the cost of housing.

In 1980, when a lot of boomers were entering the housing market, when my parents owned a house, the median home price in the US was $47,000. That’s adjusted for inflation, $195,000. In 2020, $25,000.

And in April, 2025, the median US home price was $403,000, $403,000. So average going with inflation to under $200,000 to over $400,000, that’s higher, that’s higher. The cost of education is so different, wildly different.

My parents both went to school and were able to pay for it in cash, working part-time jobs. That’s because in 1980, the average cost of tuition and fees at a public four-year institution was $738, $738 or about $3,000 in today’s dollars.

What is it today? Over $27,000 for one academic year, which honestly sounds a little bit low to me.

That means that millennials are carrying a ton of student loan debt, and it has also meant that they’ve had to put off things like buying a home or starting a business or getting married or having children.

But this episode is not about what boomers don’t understand. This episode is not about the big differences between generations. This is actually an episode that is an intergenerational appreciation.

This is an episode that is reverse ageism. This is an episode about the boomers who get it, the boomers who we love. Boomers were the biggest generation in America until millennials, and by 2030, the entirety of their generation will be over age 65.

They changed the world when they were born, and they’re changing it again as they age. This is going to have huge impacts on our country, on our economy, and then it’s something we’ll have to get into at a later episode.

But the point is, they’re getting older. We’re losing some of our favorite millennials. We’ll talk about that soon.

We’re running out of time to mend fences, give people their flowers. So we hope today’s episode will inspire you to show your appreciation for your favorite boomers, and also understand that it’s a short hop.

It’s a hop, skip, and a jump from okay boomer to millennial cringe. And that’s where I am right now, as a senior millennial. Today we have a very special guest with us again.

This is the return of friend of the pod, slash my personal best friend, Caroline Moss.

Hi, everyone. I’m so happy to be back.

Caroline Moss, I am, and I know you have a hard time believing this because we are an age gap friendship, but I am. I’m a millennial. I’m a senior millennial.

I don’t say elder, I say senior. I say, cause it implies seniority. It implies hierarchy.

It implies I was here first.

I’m not a young millennial, though.

I think you’re just middle.

I’m right in the middle.

Cause you’re a center millennial.

Senior? You’re 84. 82?

82.

Last three days of 82 still counts. I’m still 82. Okay.

82. You’re 87.

The last month of 80s, or the second to last month of 87. Yep.

Marcel is to me a young millennial. He’s 1991.

No, after 89 is like, okay.

He’s getting cuspy, do you think?

Definitely. My brother is 90, and I think young millennial.

Yeah. I would say that’s a young millennial. I think that’s, I think he is, if you’re, if you were born in the 90s, yes, you’re a millennial, you’re, but it’s your young one.

You’re a very young one to me. Anyways, we are already as a senior millennial, as a standard, I’ll call you millennial. We are, we are already experiencing the generational backlash that we’ve gotten a few times.

First, we got it from the Boomers and Gen X.

Yeah.

And now we are getting it on the opposite end from Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who have started to refer to some things as millennial cringe.

Not fair.

Not fair. What is millennial cringe to you?

I don’t really care.

I actually find it really… I know you don’t do this, but I find it really annoying when people on Instagram defend being a millennial, when people make fun of millennials. To me, that’s the ultimate millennial cringe.

Just accept it. If you met a 38-year-old when you were 19, you’d be like, you’re 100. What do you mean you don’t have your life figured out?

You’re 38. You’re older than my mom. When people are like, you don’t even know.

And I get really like, ew. The most millennial cringe thing you can do is vehemently defend your millennialism. You are who you are.

You’re born when you’re born. Maybe I’m a little cranky, but I think it’s so embarrassing when people are like, you don’t even know. We went to the club with a camera and a phone.

These kids will never know what it’s like to not have an iPad.

I’m like, okay, you literally sound, honestly, you sound like the 60 year olds who are like, remember when playing outside, you used to be riding your bike and hanging out with your friends? And now everyone has a cell phone.

It’s like, yeah, you sound like an old person. So I think the most millennial cringe thing is, is like just fucking going to the mattresses to defend being a millennial. Being a millennial is embarrassing, but you are what you are.

Being anything is embarrassing.

Being alive is embarrassing. If you are lucky enough to live long enough to see your generation maligned by the younger generation.

You’re lucky.

That’s, you’re lucky. You’re lucky. And when millennials complain about being mocked and scorned for the things about our generation that are, you know, a little bit embarrassing.

So there are boomers who feel about, okay, boomer, the way some people feel about millennial cringe, right? Like it is dismissive or it is disrespectful or all of these things.

When really, I think these sort of generational differences, there’s something about them that is very real in the experience and in just the facts of the matter. And some of it is just so manufactured.

And it’s factual that we are all growing up in very, very different worlds and realities than the generations who came before us and will come after us.

I do think millennials to boomers is a much closer growing up experience and life experience than even millennials to Gen Z or Gen Alpha. What do you think?

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s all, I think it’s all different.

Why would we be any closer to boomers?

I think just childhood wise, we are, our childhood was more similar. Our adolescence was more similar, was not as shaped by these huge leaps in technology. Like I still took college exams and a blue book.

Yeah, me too.

I didn’t have a smartphone till way after college.

Way after college. I think, I think.

Oh no, I had a Blackberry right after college. I didn’t have an iPhone until like 2013.

Yeah.

But I don’t know, but like I don’t really know what the boomer growing up experience was like. Like I understand, but like I’m also like, I feel like the boomer growing up experiences like was your, your parents like didn’t really care about you.

And they would like just like kick you outside to play and be like, come back at dinner. And we don’t really care where you are. And also this is legal.

Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like that was a little bit of mine. I mean, my parents were, my parents were caring and loving, but we could go places unsupervised.

I could ride my bike anywhere in our city for hours. Nobody knew where I was and I was never in trouble for it.

Yeah. Or like worried about.

Worried about it at all. Like went to a lot of places on my own, took the bus alone, did things like that. I think there’s a big difference in our versions of adulthood and our socioeconomic statuses and the markers of adults.

Because boomers ruined it.

A little bit.

Those are some of the criticisms of boomers, I would say wrecking the economy, hoarding wealth and power.

That’s why all of my OK boomerisms are towards the idea that like they don’t like to think inflation is like, they don’t like to actually because millennials experienced, like every eight years we had something horrific happen that like shattered our

understanding of like how life was supposed to work according to our boomer parents. And then the boomers get mad at us for stating that.

So every time I think of OK Boomer, it’s because I’m like, I just feel like they don’t understand the realities of which they are the architects of. But I also think it’s funny.

I don’t know, like I remember coming, don’t you remember coming home from school and complaining about something and being like, you have to tell your parents, being like you have no idea, like you don’t understand.

And imagine like, imagine like a 14 year old telling me today, I have no idea and I don’t understand. I bet how old do you think I am? Of course I fucking understand.

I’m older than you, I know more than you. But like that’s the rite of passage.

Okay, here’s the thing, here’s the thing. There are some big differences, there’s some ideological differences when there’s some ideological differences person to person, like there are in any personal interaction.

And this episode has been many months in the making. I asked listeners to tell me who their favorite boomer is.

In an effort to, I think, do a little bit of diplomatic relations between millennials and baby boomers, and hopefully the Gen Z and the four Gen Alpha who listen to this podcast as well can feel maybe like a little more, a little more softness, a

little more appreciation for baby boomers. Maybe the baby boomers who are listening to it will feel a little bit better about millennials. We also know a thing or two about being unfairly cast in an unflattering light to your point.

What was the first sort of opinion of millennials as we entered the workforce was that we are lazy, that we are lazy, entitled, entitled, that we want, you know, our, that we demand a participation trophy and we just have to ask that we’re soft, that

we’re soft. Who gave us participation trophies? You think we were buying those for ourselves?

Yeah, the boomers. And guess who’s way lazier and more entitled, Gen Z? Just kidding.

That was a joke. Yeah, the boomers were giving us participation trophies.

You guys gave this to us. You guys gave this to us.

They made us soft.

You made us soft. And now, like, we have a soft spot in our hearts for you.

And maybe a part of this too is just, you know, as millennials age, we have to face the realities of aging, which are, it’s just this realization that after an age that does not feel that old to you, you start to sort of see your own significance in

the world or your own place in the world sort of flagging a little bit. Yeah, totally.

I don’t experience this much face to face, but I will see, say, being a woman on the internet, specifically on TikTok, the number of times if I say something, I don’t even think is that how to take. So I’m like, why do you even care? You’re like 40.

I’m like, thank you. I’m actually 43.

Thank you so much.

Or any man’s favorite thing to say to me, if they don’t like something I’ve said on the internet, is like, you look really old. I’m like, okay.

Well, according to them, we are really old. I mean, like, I used to think all my teachers were old. They were like 24 when I was in high school.

When I planned my 20th high school anniversary, anniversary reunion, someone was like, I mean, all of our teachers are probably dead. I’m like, they were seven or eight years older than us. That was it.

They’re like, they’re probably dead. I’m like, they’re 45. What do you mean they’re dead?

Yeah, they’re like 46.

This episode today, Caroline, this episode is reverse ageism.

Okay?

This episode, we’re going to practice reverse ageism.

So I think to start, I asked you to come with your favorite boomers, your okayest boomer. You know what? I got to say, my favorite boomer today is my mom, is Margaret McInerny.

Yes. I really like my mom, and I think especially when I look back or here are things that I appreciate about my mom as a boomer, is that she still does not feel like a boomer. She is about to be 77 years old, and you know how Q described her?

How?

He said, if you didn’t see her face and you just hung out with her, you’d think she’s really young.

Oh, that’s a real compliment.

And by that, he meant, he goes, she says so much energy, she likes to do so much stuff.

And whenever I see criticisms of, you know, boomer moms on TikTok, I see the things that my mom did really right. Um, and you know, did my mom do everything right? No, that’s why I was able to write three memoirs, right?

That’s okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for the material, Margaret. But my mom has always just been her own person, has always been just really interesting and has always encouraged me to kind of loosen up and not be so worried about doing everything exactly right.

And this might be a little bit of, you know, boomer privilege and the economic situation that they grew up in. But, you know, like many boomers, my parents did buy their house for five beans.

The interest rate was 23 percent, but the house itself, I think, cost $17,000. And I think their combined salary at that time was like $33,000. So, you know, the inverse is true now, right?

Like you buy a house that’s like 10 times your, you know, take home salary and the interest rate is really low, but you’re going to be paying it off forever. My mom did not graduate from college until she was in her fifties.

I was actually in college, copycat. She went back in and finished as an adult learner.

Wow.

And she just kind of built her own career working in photo studios and then laying out catalogs and then working freelance. I didn’t know what that meant when I was growing up. People would be like, what does your mom do?

I was like, oh, she’s a freelancer. I did not know what, but I was like, I, I don’t know what that means. I just know if she’s, she’s freelance.

Okay.

She’s, that’s what she does.

She’s freelance. All right. She’s freelance.

She would take summers off and like hang out with us. And you know, we moved houses, you know, at least I think three times, maybe four. And she just kind of treated everything like an adventure and everything like it could be figured out.

And you didn’t have to figure it out or you didn’t have to have it figured out in advance.

And I really appreciate that looking back, you know, like, I never felt like because my parents got married when they were, you know, 24 and were parents by the time they were 24. You guys can do that math yourself.

And, you know, had four kids and I just never felt like I had to do things exactly their way, because I think they were pretty open about the fact that they were just sort of like making it up as they went along. Okay. You know?

Yeah.

And I think a lot of boomers are known for like staying in a specific career with a specific company.

And my parents were not like that, you know? Like I just-

That’s really, that’s very cool. Mine were.

Yeah. I just, I feel like I had like a sort of almost more of like a fun blueprint for how things could go.

And I mean, I think it’s like just like, yeah, a little bit more flexible.

Yeah, a little bit more flexible. And that’s, and now my mom is, you know, about to be 77. And if you didn’t look at her face, you would think she’s really young.

Like this woman can do pull ups and she could talk to you about art and books.

And she sent out a really cool Christmas card last year.

You got one, okay? You got one.

I did get one. I actually got two.

Because you are, you know, a friend of hers now. And she has a lot of friends who are my age.

Yeah, she’ll text me like articles and stuff. Like she’s really interesting. And also I think not only is she interesting, she’s interested.

She’s a curious person.

Yes, yeah. I think that’s kind of a key too.

It is a huge key. I think for any age, but especially when you’re getting older. Like if you’re not interested in the world around you, why are you still there?

And if you’re not interested in the world around you, it is hard to be an interesting person.

Impossible to be.

That goes for any age.

That goes for any age. But I think that’s a good reminder to me too. It’s like when you think you already know everything or have like seen everything or done everything, one, you’re dumb and you’re wrong.

And two, you’re being boring.

Yeah, of course. Absolutely.

Okay. Who’s your favorite personal boomer?

My personal boomer? Well, I didn’t know we could bring our parents, so.

I think it’s Cheetah if she does.

Besides my parents. Well, let’s see. I have some people in mind, but the way that you’re talking about your mom is making me realize that like, my, it’s kind of a cohort of boomers.

But I really like, besides my parents, I really like my aunts and my uncles. My mom is one of six, and we have a very close-knit family, and we all kind of like live in the same town.

Or, you know, all of the adults, the parents, I guess I’m an adult too now, but that generation, they all kind of live in the same town. Do I see them all the time?

And I kind of just grew up really, really close to my aunts and my uncles, and I would put all of them in this category, but especially my mom’s two youngest brothers, because when I was born, they were like Ian’s age.

They were like 24, 25 years old. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean?

Like, my mom was 31 when she had me, which, by the way, as a child, even honestly, up until I was out of college, I would say things like, my mom had me when she was really old. She was like 31. Or I’d say my parents met late in life.

They were 27. Like, I would really say that. That’s why I’m like, I don’t care what a 17-year-old thinks of me.

I’m 38. To them, I’m 100. To them, I’m dead.

It doesn’t matter. I’m like, you don’t understand the nuances of age, and you shouldn’t, but you will when you’re 38. But anyway, so my uncles were…

My one uncle was like 25, and the other one was like 23 when I was born. And so, like, their wives were like girlfriends when I was born. And I was like, you know, I was like the third cousin, so it was still…

Now we have like 18 cousins, and I know you can relate to this Irish family, so many cousins, but it was still novel when babies were being born into the family. And I just think they’re really fun. I’m like friends with my aunts and uncles.

They are interested in my life. I’m interested in their lives. I feel like they treat me like I’m an adult.

And I think that that’s sometimes hard in like a family dynamic. Like sometimes you’re always a kid, and sometimes they’re always right because they’re older or whatever, even when you are in your 30s and 40s.

They’re like, well, you know, like I’m older than you. Or like, I can’t ever not think of you as like not 11, you know? And I feel like my family doesn’t do that.

And, you know, as much as I love my parents, like to my parents, I’m always their child. So we haven’t really graduated so much until like we’re all adults here, the way that I have with my aunts and uncles.

But they’re cool, and they’re fun, and like they do things. Like, my aunt and uncle right now are in Vermont. They rent a house every winter, and they go up on weekends, and they ski.

And they’re also like, they’re not like retired yet, because they’re like in their early 60s. And they’re like gonna be retired eventually, but they’re not retired yet.

And one of my aunts is like, you know, like went back to work after like raising her three kids, like, and now like works at the local newspaper, and like went back to like her roots as like a salesperson, does like all the ad sales.

Like, it’s just cool. And they’re cool people. And like your mom, it does make me realize that like life is hopefully long.

And like, I don’t know, age really is sort of just something like a construct. Like, when I think of my family, like when I think of my aunts and uncles as like being in their 60s and 70s, like that seems insane to me.

To me, they’re always kind of like 40.

Yeah, yeah.

Cause that’s how old they were when I was a kid. But when your parents are 40, you’re like, you’re 100. You know what I mean?

Like it’s like weird mouth. But my favorite boomers are my mom’s siblings.

Oh, I love that.

And their spouses.

My parasocial favorite boomer is Rest In Peace, Dianne Keaton, who I think is the, I mean, she’s cuspy, right?

She was cuspy, but she made it.

She’s what, 79?

Yeah.

She’s a forever boomer now.

Yeah, forever, forever boomer, forever boomer.

She’s a senior boomer. That was a life-ruining death for me.

It was a shocking.

I hated that. I was on my way to a wedding, and it really put a damper on my evening.

It’s no surprise that this is one of my favorite parasocial boomers because there are a few people who remind me of my mom, and Diane Keaton is one of them. Just visually, energy-wise, quirkiness.

Diane Keaton is in some of my very favorite movies, including Baby Boom, which was, and if you watch Baby Boom as a woman in your 30s or 40s, you start to realize that even the professional experiences, well, the world is a quote unquote very

Yeah, they’re all the same.

It’s the same.

It’s the same.

It’s exactly the same.

The same challenges, slightly different outfits, and watching Baby Boom as an adult and not like a little kid, watching it as an adult with kids, I was like, oh, wow, I feel so, so seen in this movie. I really like, I love this movie.

Gave us some of our best characters. And also personally, there were some things that I disagreed with her on and we don’t have to get into those and we won’t, but you can Google them and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

She had a blind spot or two, but she also lived her life truly for herself, and she had some really iconic love affairs with big stars, Al Pacino being one of them.

Really?

Warren Beatty being one of them.

I didn’t know about Al Pacino. I did know about Warren Beatty.

Yeah.

Who’s your favorite ever Diane Keaton character?

Oh, honestly, I mean, I’m a little bit just recency bias. It might be Sybil from The Family Stone because I watched that every Christmas. So I have watched that very, very recently.

But there’s also a movie that I don’t think a lot of people saw and loved, but I love called Because I Said So.

Love Because I Said So, and she’s amazing in it. Daphne Wilder. She’s so good in it.

Yeah.

She’s so good in it.

And Tom Everett Scott, my personal friend.

Yeah. But also, God, I mean, something’s got to give. Also, a beautiful role for her.

Baby boom, beautiful role for her.

Father of the Bride, one of my favorites.

Father of the Bride, perfect.

Nina Banks. Yeah.

No, she’s Nina. Nina. Yeah, Annie.

No.

Yeah, she’s Nina. Annie is the daughter, Kimberly Williams.

Annie is the daughter. She’s Nina. What is she Annie in?

First Wives Club.

That’s it.

First Wives Club. I saw that movie in middle school and I was like, I can’t wait to be divorced. Yeah.

Well, I can’t wait for a man to betray me.

Yeah.

And for me to lead on my girlfriends.

I know.

Okay.

And I’ll be fine. You know why? Because I have a white skirt suit and I have really good friends.

All right. And that’s all you need. And that is the lesson.

I feel like that was the lesson of so many of her roles too, were just, you know, trusting yourself and surrounding yourself with women, women who really like get in love, even when she was like in a, in a rom-com. You know, she really loves it.

Such an independent character always.

I also love that she adopted her children in her fifties.

That’s, that’s another day, right? Didn’t, did not, you know, I mean, you can do whatever you want when you have that kind of money.

But like, I don’t know that you really can do that as like a normal, like a regular 50 year old in the world.

I don’t think so. Yeah.

I feel like they really don’t let you do that. But I think when you’re dying, Keaton, you can do whatever. But I loved that.

And I loved that she never, you know, after I got divorced, I feel like she’s one of those people that I was like, it could be fine. It could be more than fine to never do that again. You know?

Like I never have to get married again, to a man for sure. And like, oh, what’s the blueprint for that? Dying Keaton.

Dying Keaton.

Dying Keaton, just having a beautiful life.

And another thing I really admire about her, and I don’t know that any other star, this might be like also one of those sort of generational divides or maybe like a success divide, where it’s like, you can only do this once you’ve reached a certain

Yep.

And I honestly don’t even know if any other generation of stars will be able to do this, but making something and then going away and living a life.

No one ever does that though.

No one ever does that anymore.

And I just think it’s so chic. And I love that she had a very specific personal style, something that I lack. I just wear kind of like whatever I like in that moment.

And that it was consistent over decades. Like, you know, when you see a Diane Keaton outfit, it might not be the world’s greatest every single time, but you know, it’s gonna be layers. It’s gonna be turtlenecks.

It’s gonna be polka dots.

It’s gonna be.

It’s gonna be polka dots. It’s gonna be a A-line full skirt and layers. A little bit of menswear layered in there.

I just love it. I just love it. So rest in peace at age 79 forever.

Where were you when you found out?

I don’t even remember.

I just, I don’t remember.

Did I tell you?

You told me, yeah.

I think I did tell you, because your phone’s always broken. You don’t, you never know anything.

And she was on my 2025 vision board. And then I was like, oh God, did I do that? Because you know everything’s about me.

I know, but yeah, I kind of just thought she’d be someone that never died.

Yeah, same.

Which brings me to my favorite boomer.

Yeah.

Who’s Catherine O’Hara, who just died.

That was hard too. This has been a very hard couple of months.

She’s the one who reminds me of my mom.

Yeah, for sure. Just like a kook. A kook.

She reminds me so much. I will not even say who, but one of my friends from high school, her mother is Catherine O’Hara in Home Alone. Like just kind of rigid and scary.

Warm probably, but not to anyone else’s kids. Maybe just to her own. But Catherine O’Hara was mine.

I mean, also just because she’s a kook. I mean, not as kook as Diane Keaton, but definitely kooky. And I don’t even like Schitt’s Creek.

I wasn’t even a Schitt’s Creek fan, but I love Catherine O’Hara. I love Christopher Guest movies, like Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, Spinal Tap, for your consideration. She was in, I think all of those.

She wasn’t in Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner also, it’s been a rough couple of months.

Yeah, it’s been a rough one. But I think that’s why it’s important to talk about this now, because as they’re aging so rapidly, we’re running out of time to show our appreciation for the boomers that we know and love.

I know, I think maybe the morality factor, mortality factor rather, not morality, mortality is weighing a little bit. I’m like, these are like my TV moms, like what do you mean they’re dying? And that is like, well, I don’t want to think about that.

Yeah.

I don’t know, every year I get older and you hear someone dies at 70, you’re like, but 70 is so young.

A thing I wouldn’t have said, you know, 20 years ago, but now I say it, but now we said it. My grandfather died at 82 and now I’m like, that’s insanely young. Like, I think, yeah, please.

No one should die under the age of 150.

But maybe that’s what it is.

It’s like all of these, I don’t know, like who’s like when I mean, honestly, my big three all just kind of went, Diane, Rob, Catherine, but my last couple, Julie Andrews, Stevie Nicks. That might be it.

Those are going to be the two that when they die, I’m going to be like, oh.

Yeah.

Stevie Nicks.

She’s not a boomer, she’s just an old person.

Julie Andrews isn’t a boomer.

That’s actually, well no, how old is Julie Andrews?

Okay. I think she’s Silent Generation.

I think she’s 90.

I’m checking. She’s going to be 90. Pushed in 90.

She’s 90 years old.

But what, is that Silent Generation? Well.

I knew it.

Amazing.

Silent Generation.

Amazing. Well, still. And Stevie Nicks, I think, is a boomer.

Yeah. That’s kind of crazy.

I think she is. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. We’re running. We have to show our appreciation for these boomers.

That’s true.

We have to give them their flowers now, as they say.

No, I’m just thinking about Catherine O’Hara.

Okay.

So, yeah, she was, and you know what, I was really touched by the way that Macaulay Culkin spoke about her. And did you know that his parents didn’t come to- Why didn’t her parents?

His parents got to be in a special relationship with them. But Catherine O’Hara did. Yeah, I think they’re, I think they’re probably strange.

I think, like, maybe sometimes when you’re pushed into a, uh, into child acting, it’s not, uh, it might not be good for the child or their relationship with their parents.

Someone had a great story about being on set with either Diane Keaton or Catherine O’Hara. And I could not, gunned in my head, I could not tell you which one, but they told it recently, so I’m not sure, like, who, who it was about.

And I feel like because I’m imagining it as recent, it was probably Catherine O’Hara. No, maybe it wasn’t. I’ll find out.

But it was like someone’s first role. And I think it was Diane Keaton, actually. It was like someone’s first role, and they kind of like showed up to set, and it was like everything around them’s moving.

You know, they don’t really know what they’re supposed to be doing. They feel like they stick out like a sore thumb. And Diane Keaton sort of just was like, hey, wanna be friends?

Like, wanna be friends? You know what I mean? Watch, it was Catherine O’Hara, now I’m stolen Valor.

But I don’t know, there’s just something really… I love all the nice stories of these Hollywood, you know, the Macaulay Culkin thing is great.

Yeah.

Kooky and Beloved.

Yeah, they were both kooky. They both look like my mom to me. Yeah.

And Beloved. Yeah. Beloved.

Beloved. And I also think like to give the world so many like funny, weird female characters is a real deal.

To be able to harness your talent and be successful and actually enjoy it. And I mean, Diane has definitely a few blind spots, but…

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it’s kind of amazing.

Just a couple, just a couple. Okay. All right, we’re going to go into, all right.

All right, we are going to hear about other people’s favorite boomers. Are you ready?

Hi, Nora and Feelings Co. I couldn’t go past the request for telling you about my favorite boomer.

My favorite boomer is my mom.

I think she might be right on the cusp of boomer-dom, but I had a conversation with my daughter last night, her granddaughter, and my daughter told me that her relationship with my mom is such that they don’t, it’s not code switching, but they have

code meshing and that my mom can hear my daughter say things like, oh, you read him the filth, and my mom loves learning exactly what that means, and this is a woman who has four adult children and all these grandchildren, and she is so curious about

And I think it’s a great question, because there is a lot of them that do make me feel that way.

All right, thanks.

That’s cute.

Yeah, it’s like the same thing, right? Which is like having people who are interested in other people and interested in experiences that are not their own and are also open to learning new things, like learning new slang, learning new language.

To my parents’ credit, because they don’t have grandchildren and I’m certainly not giving them any TBD on my siblings, I do sort of have a little pang of wanting to see them interact with my children, but then I don’t want to do the rest of the

having children part. I’d love to just spend three hours with my kids and my parents and watch that, but not enough for me to have the children to do it.

But I do think that that’s another layer that you get out of watching your boomer parent become a grandparent is like a different experience. They’re not going to be the same to your grandkids as they were to you, so you get a little bit.

I mean, you have a different relation with your mom because you have kids.

Yeah, that’s true. Also just like watching her interact, I think even just with my nieces and nephews too, that experience, all of it changed you, like life changes you.

Yeah.

Hey, I was just calling to tell you about my favorite boomer. My favorite boomer is my half-sister’s dad. His name is Randall.

He is just the coolest guy. Randall is so great. He is in the martial arts hall of fame and owns a martial arts studio.

And he is this super Italian man from New Jersey, who is just so full of love and life and joy. And he is kind and thoughtful and generous.

And when I first met my sister a few years ago, Randall just welcomed me with open arms and was like, oh, you’re part of Randy’s life? Because his daughter is Randy, he is Randall.

He’s like, you’re part of Randy’s life, you’re part of our lives now, and we’re so glad you’re here. And just Randall makes me laugh.

And he’s so kind and funny and just like, I love my sister so much and my life is also better because her dad is part of it. And his partner Julie is also super, super cool.

And they are just wonderful people who believe in caring about others and doing kind things and sharing and making the world a better place. And I love them so much. And that’s why I wanted to tell you about my favorite boomer, Randall.

Okay, I’m obsessed with that.

Randall!

That’s so cute.

Randall!

Oh, that’s so cute. There’s too much to love about that one. I have to say that, of course, his name is Randall.

I love that.

I love that.

You don’t hear the name Randall enough. And if there’s anybody out there looking for a name that is ready to be rebooted, he’ll definitely be the only Randall in this kindergarten class. If you’re pregnant right now, I’d say consider Randall.

Also, I want the full story of how you discovered this half-sister and how Randall just embraced it. I really like that. I think that’s a beautiful story.

And so I’m making a note to follow up and maybe get the full scoop. Julie and Randall are now two of our favorite boomers. They’re putting it in the Hall of Fame.

All right. We got another one here.

Hi, Nora.

I saw your prop about your favorite boomer and I wanted to share mine. I spent the last five-ish years working in 55-plus housing in upstate New York, and I have made some lifelong friends with some of my residents, many of whom are over 70.

There are two in particular that I’ve kept in touch with. One, her name is Josie. She’s at my wedding.

And another, Kathy. She and I get together for coffee about once a quarter, and we just talk trash about the other ladies or any drama going on. And we are both very anti-orange man.

So that’s something we’re able to connect on. And it really just feels like girl time. And I always look forward to hearing from her, spending time with her.

Love what you’re doing. Thank you. Bye.

I love that.

I love making friends in a 55 plus situation than remaining friends even though it’s your job.

You have a friend in the silent generation. I’ve met him.

Oh, yeah. I do. I do.

I have a lot of older friends. I have to say, there’s something about that story, Caroline, that is very Caroline Moss coded. I think that if you found yourself working in a 55 plus community.

Yeah, I have a lot of friends.

You too.

You would have a lot of friends.

It dates back to my friend’s parents liking me. You know what I mean? You’re the friend that your friend’s parents like.

I think that that’s just a thing that would carry me through. I feel like if I had an opportunity to get in front of more 70 year olds, I would have a lot of friends there. It’s true.

I think you’re just missing the opportunity is what it comes down to.

And I think that you were also the friend who gravitated towards friends’ parents. Because I was too, I was like, oh, let’s just go see what Jan’s doing. Is Jan in the kitchen right now?

Let’s go sit with Jan for a minute. I just want to catch up. I want to make sure I’m catching up with Jan too.

It’s great to see you, but…

Yeah. My friend Gabby’s mom is one of my favorite boomers and her name’s Janet. So that reminded me of that, but I do a really good Janet impression.

And that’s because when we were in middle school and high school and I would go pick Gabby up or I would go over to their house, Janet would not be like I was like part of the family. So she’d like yell at Gabby in front of me kind of thing.

So she’d always be, she’d always be like, Gabrielle, like a New York Italian mom. She’d be like, Gabrielle, you’re not leaving this house until you make your bed. I saw your room.

It’s disgusting. Get the vacuum. And then she’d be like, Caroline, come into the kitchen.

Tell me about your life. And that was me and Janet. And actually, a couple of months ago, I was in my hometown and I was like, I don’t know what I was home for.

I think it was like in the summer, I went up for a weekend. I went to get a manicure and Janet was in there getting a manicure and I walked into, Caroline.

And, and Gabby to this day will be like, oh yeah, my mom used to yell at me to do things, but then she’d invite you to like come sit with her on the couch and chat. And I was just like, well, you know what? And you took it up.

You said get, go vacuum your room.

I said, Gabby, your room is disgusting.

It is disgusting.

I said, Janet, tell her, disgusting, disgusting.

But yeah, I love a friend’s parent. I love a friend’s parent even more today, to this day.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m not taking you to the mall and tell you to vacuum your room. Your mom’s right, you’re disgusting.

Disgusting.

Oh yeah, like looking at me to back her up. Gabby looking at me to back her up, and I’m like, I can’t back you up. Your room is gross.

Absolutely not.

Your mom has a really good point. Your room is disgusting.

Yeah, and don’t treat your mom like that.

Thank you.

Disgusting, good.

Hi, my name is Victoria, and I just wanted to share my favorite boomer.

And I know a lot of people probably already said this, but it’s my mom, who she claims she’s not a boomer, but she is.

But the reason why I’m thinking of her right now is not only is she a badass caregiver for my dad living with dementia and works full time, but she also recently helped me make signs for the No Kings rally in our area.

And this is a woman who, like I was raised on Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, like she was definitely a Republican. And now she’s like fuck Trump and like fully on board.

And I’m just so proud of her and the way that she’s evolved and grown as a woman. I don’t know, we always think about like growing and evolving in like our 20s and 30s.

But this is someone who I think really evolved and grew as a person, you know, in midlife and beyond. And I’m just really proud of her.

And she’s a great boomer and I love her.

And I wanted to share.

Thanks.

Oh, I love that.

Honestly, your mom’s just a girl. Your mom’s just a girl.

It’s true.

You know what I mean? Like your mom’s just a girl. I do love, I do love someone who can sort of wake up to the horseshit politics of our time and say, I’m changing my mind.

My parents are lifelong Democrats, so I don’t have to deal with that. But it is nice to know that there are people out there who are like, way to tick. This doesn’t seem right.

Way to tick.

We’re allowed to change our minds. You’re allowed to change your views.

You’re allowed to say, I don’t think this is right.

It’s never too late. Yeah, and it’s a good reminder. You’re not too old.

It’s not too late. All right, maybe you read this text. I just texted you.

My dad is my favorite boomer.

In a time when I’m watching, a lot of my friends have complicated relationships with their dads. In the Trump era, I’ve got to watch mine evolve.

From a conservative Christian to a man who speaks out about Trump and has chartered his own faith journey, void of vickiness. I take for granted sometimes how easy my relationship with my boomer dad is.

We argue and disagree, but I know at the end of the day, he loves me and hates Trump, and that’s good enough for me. That’s very sweet. That’s great.

That is really sweet.

God, a lot of awakenings happening. Okay, this is a good submission here. Okay.

I’d like to take a moment to celebrate Anne Patchett. I’m immediately jealous I didn’t think of this. At the level of the sentence, you can’t beat her.

As an English professor and lifelong Anne Stan, this is my professional opinion.

Anne is brilliant and her work sings, but I’d like to call attention to two things about Anne you might learn from the Instagram account for her Nashville bookshop Parnassus Books.

One, Anne isn’t afraid to recommend an older book, and she reminds us in her recommendation videos that a book is new to us if we haven’t read it yet.

I think media book media is a little hyperfixated on brand new, and right now, an Anne’s approach is a reminder to slow down, forgive ourselves for missing a book released a few years ago, and maybe even hit the library.

I’m not kidding when I say that the shame free approach to book recs could change the world. I agree.

I agree too.

Anne Style is a dream. As a person who wrote books that has not, I’ve not published a book in four years, I have to agree. Two, Anne Style is a dream.

This woman is giving us Kathleen Kelly realness with no fuss fabrics, well-tailored pieces and colors that make me want to pack up and move to Nashville.

It is a crime against God, nature, and frankly me that Anne hasn’t been tapped to join an Alex Mill campaign yet. The poplin skirts, the smart pops of red and navy blue, come on. Her book promo for her recent novel Tom Lake has stayed with me.

See her IG post from July 22nd, 2023. The green dress, divine. I will be looking that up.

Honorable mention, Anne’s dogs, Nemo and Sparky are just impossibly cute. I love to see a dog having a good day. In conclusion, multi-talented Anne Patchett is my favorite boomer.

I hope she’s yours too.

Wow. I love that.

That was a well-reasoned convincing argument, and I did not need convincing.

No, I didn’t either, but I don’t think I even knew what Anne Patchett looked like until I just Googled her right now.

She’s very cute and chic.

Yeah, she is very Kathleen Kelly.

She’s very Kathleen Kelly.

Very Kathleen Kelly. My favorite boomer is my friend Barb. She’s 75 years old, and I met her in the back row of powerful, hot vinyasa classes.

She does yoga every day after she swims one mile of laps. She has a PhD and was working full-time until she lost her job due to doge cuts. She studied the efficacy of education programs.

She reads incessantly, novels as well as the New York Times and is up to date on the New Yorker. Like, is she the only one? She is kind, non-judgmental and so generous and I’m lucky to know her.

Sometimes that’s just it.

Be cool, okay? Be up on the New Yorker if you can, but.

Don’t be all uncool.

But yeah, Barb and my mom are the only people who are ever up to date on the New Yorker.

Your mom is so up to date.

Cover to cover.

Yeah, cover to cover.

She’s so up to date on the New Yorker. She really is.

And then she’ll be like, Caroline, did you read X-Lens 8? And I’m like, oh my god, no, I didn’t. And now I’m embarrassed.

No, they’ve piled up.

And also the print is so small. I can’t, I can’t.

It’s so tiny. I’m like, Madge, the New Yorker is to bring on the subway to impress boys, okay? It’s not, it’s not for reading.

It’s not for reading.

We subscribe to the New Yorker to get the tote. And that’s it.

Yeah, we got the tote. And I don’t actually need to read the articles. I am here for the cartoons.

Follow the text.

Yes, that’s it. Clip about, send them to me. Okay, I have an update on the Barb text.

Yep.

She is 76, it turns out, 76.

Wow. And that’s okay.

Great.

That’s okay, that’s okay. All right, this is our, this is our last submission. He’s in the last year of the boomer generation, 1964, but it still counts, Stephen Colbert.

Wow, okay.

I watched On and Off.

Yeah, I didn’t know this. I watched On and Off, but during COVID, his show became a part of my daily routine. It helped me process the news and find some joy in my days.

Almost six years later, he’s still an essential part of my morning routine. I don’t stay up for late night like I used to, so I watch his monologue over my morning coffee.

Through pregnancy, new baby, family deaths, job loss, new jobs and lots of other milestones, he’s been a constant for me.

Not just his humor, but the way he takes a genuine interest in people through conversation, talks about faith and grief and the love he has for others that have made him someone I admire and treasure from afar.

Can’t argue with the things that are beautiful.

Wait, now I have a new boomer that I want to say that I love.

Okay, yeah.

Hoda, Hoda’s a boomer. And I love Hoda.

Is she really?

Uh-huh, she was born in 1964.

Okay, what do you love about Hoda?

Hoda, everything.

Okay, barely a boomer, but we’re counting it.

Yeah, but she is 1964, so if Stephen Colbert counts, Hoda counts.

She is, but she is, we’re counting her, we’re counting her.

But I think she’s great, and beyond the fact that similarly to Diane Keaton has sort of just marched to the beat of her own drum her whole life, found a lot of success, found a lot of happiness, like adopted her daughters.

She’s also a really nice person, and when I worked at NBC and she worked at NBC, we were on the same lunch schedule, which was, we were on the cafeteria open for lunch at 11, and both of us were kind of there around that time.

She did not know who I was, but that didn’t stop her from always engaging in conversation when we saw each other.

And she was really complimentary about all the food in the cafeteria and would always know all of the staff by name and compliment the food. Like, oh my God, look at these vegetables. These peppers look amazing.

These cucumbers look amazing today. Raul, these are good. These ones are good, Raul.

I love those. Like, I can tell you cut these ones. Just, I love shit like that.

Like, that’s the kind of person I am and try to be. And I, like, really take notice of people who move through the world that way. And she does.

And I’m really excited that she also sort of, like, seemingly at the top of her career said, you know what? I’m all set and I’ll come back for, like, special things or when you, like, desperately need me.

But I’m going to go hang out with my kids because I’m happy to be a mom now.

Oh, yeah. I love it. I love it.

Love Oda. Yeah. And you know, if this episode inspires you to think of your favorite boomer, like, you can still send it our way.

And in fact, I would love if you did. And you know, like, bonus points if you add a photo, add a video, okay? But it’s the phone number is 612-568-4441.

The email is thanks at feelingsand.co.

And we have one last, we’re going to do another little segment. I don’t know if I ever told you about this, Caroline, but we let people send in all kinds of stuff. And this is the vent segment, okay?

You got to get something off your chest. You got to complain about something. You can send that in too.

And so we have one today and that is what we’re wrapping up with. I’m going to play it right now.

Hi, Nora and team. I’m just going to share with you this gross thing that’s going on with me. I just got out of the hospital and I had to listen to…

I was in the ER for 18 hours. So fun, so fun. And this guy next to me for a large chunk of that time, whenever I would cough, would call me.

He’s like, hey, you stupid COVID heaven, sorry ass bitch. And he said it really loud. It was really, I was like getting really upset.

Well, guess what? Jokes on him, because I’m not a sorry ass COVID having bitch. I’m a sorry ass mono having bitch.

No.

Anyway, so that’s right.

I had it in 1994 and I’m bringing it back apparently. And apparently you can get it twice in a lifetime, which is now a David Byrne thing. What is happening?

What is even going on in this call? Anyway, I just needed to share that this mono, sorry ass mono having bitch is getting on with her life. I’ll be in very, very slowly.

Thanks for listening. Have a wonderful day.

Bye.

That’s really funny. I never had mono. I was always jealous of people who did.

I got mono.

I got mono. I got mono in college.

I guess we’re kissing a lot.

It was really bad. I was kissing a lot that year, and I was like, God, I just feel so sick and can’t figure it out. And I went to our little health center, which really should not even call the health center.

And they’re like, yeah, I don’t know, just like- And then I went to the pediatrician. I was like 22.

Sure. I was like 21 and 22. I went to the pediatrician over the summer because I was like, I don’t feel good.

And I was so sick. I had a huge rash all over my body. And they were like, this is bad.

You could have gotten like, you could have gotten dead, I think. I think they said you’re on death’s doorstep. And what I remember is there was like an intern or something and he was like in his 20s.

And I was in my 20s at the pediatrician. And then after that last appointment, where I checked in, they said, what’s the name of the child? And I said, me, I’m the child.

Oh my God.

It’s me.

Then they sent me my medical records and said I had to get another doctor.

Oh, sad.

Oh God.

I didn’t know you could get it twice.

I didn’t know they would take you as a pediatrician.

That’s challenging everything I thought I knew.

I know. I didn’t even know that it was still a thing. I thought mono was just a 2001 disease.

No, they’ve not eradicated mono.

Okay, so you can re-get it. Okay, that’s interesting because I felt pretty bad before and I wondered if I had mono.

I wonder if I had mono last week.

You might have had mono last week. I’ll tell you what you want to do when you have mono, sleep. And honestly, you know what I have mono to thank for?

Yeah.

My love of SVU because that was the only time my dad let me be in control of the TV.

When you had mono.

And also watch TV.

Whenever I wanted to, I had mono, and I was allowed to be in the TV room. And it was an SVU marathon. And I was in a constant state of sleep, waking up for a little bit.

And then it just was SVU nonstop. And that’s where it really got into my bloodstream.

That’s interesting. I feel like I should go get tested as I’ve never been more tired in my life right now. And I have been sick for the last week.

So and I have been watching a lot of SVU. So that does track.

Yeah. It’s all there. It’s all there.

Caroline, thank you for being here with us again. Thank you for joining me again.

Thank you for having me.

I’m Nora McInerny, this is Thanks For Asking. Our guest today was Caroline Moss from Gee Thanks Just Bought It. We’ll link to her and all of her stuff in our episode description and over on our Substack.

This is an independent podcast, so thank you for being here, for supporting our advertisers.

And if you would like to support the show in another way, you can join us over on Substack for ad free episodes and the full archives and just get out a lot of stuff. But no worries if not, as you know, I’m a great salesperson.

But also call and text us. Let us know what you want to talk about. It’s 612-568-4441.

This episode was produced by Marcel Malekebu, prepped by Grace Barry. And our theme music is by Geoffrey Lamar Wilson, except for this closing theme music, which is by my young son, Q. Big, big thanks to our supporting producers.

These are people who support us over on Substack at the highest level. The really the only benefit is just my unending gratitude and getting your name in the credit.

So big thanks to our supporting producers, including Augie Book, Joy Heising, No Name, Nancy Duff, Jenny Medeine, Kathleen Langerman, Jordan Jones, Ben, Jess, Tom Stockburger, Beth Derry, Sarah Garifo, Jennifer McDagle, Kathy Sigmund, Sarah David,

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Lindsay Lund Jessica LaTashay. What do you say? I say LaTaxia, but I don’t know. I’ve never been corrected. Stephanie Johnson Alexis Lane Robyn Roulard Dave Gilmore, my best friend from college Elia Feliz-Milan. LGS, all caps. Chelsea S. Kelly Conrad. Jen Grimlin And Micah. Thank you guys so much. We’ll see you back here soon.