Generational Musings at the Author Dinner

Last night I traveled downtown after work to meet up with several of JIST's authors, who are in town to deliver a job search conference for 75 attendees from across the nation. The attendees are all counselors who help clients find jobs. JIST has been doing these semiannual conferences for as long as I can remember, and the highlight is that we always give away a ton of free books. The idea, of course, is that these people will continue to be loyal customers.

I wandered the Sheraton's meeting areas for a bit looking for our group and ran into the national conference of the American Legion. They were having a gala ball and the live band was in full swing, a clarinetist blasting out Bing Crosby's "It's Been a Long Time." It felt like 1945 (although how would I know? My parents were babies then).

Then I chatted with author (and friend of this blog) Laurence Shatkin, who thrilled me with his tale of living in London in the summer of 1969 (the infamous "Summer of Love"). At that point in time, I was the baby.

And then I got to sit next to JIST's copywriter, Selena Dehne, who was a baby when I was in my Wham-influenced glory days in the UK myself. I envy her youth and freedom and all the possibilities ahead of her.

I guess the conclusion of all of this is that we all go through the same stages in life, just on a different schedule. Although the four generations I hobnobbed with last night think they don't really understand one another, deep down I think they do.