Inside Elmcroft of Muncie, an elderly man and woman sit doing a crossword puzzle, their heads pressed tightly together. Three other residents at this assisted living center doze off in front of the television, the volume at a maximum level. Another woman stares blankly ahead in the corner. Mary Dixon, 89, wobbles toward the front door, her hands gripped around her walker. Today is a special day. She gets to sit outside on the porch, one of her favorite activities. As Mary and several other women are led outside, they sit down on the wicker furniture and comment on the warm September air. Before long, they begin laughing and talking about their pasts, transported back to a brief moment in time, when they were young.
In 1999, the oldest Millennials were graduating high school while the youngest were turning two years old. It was also the year that the Baby Boomer generation, which has always had an outsized presence, peaked at 78.8 million. In 1999, Mary Dixon, then 73 and a member of the Silent Generation, watched the landscape of America change as the Baby Boomers took over.
Today, as Mary sits on the porch, she talks about the way things were 70 years ago. She grew up without a computer, without a college degree, and with strict moral rules put on her by her mother, which was common for her generation. She has no idea what an iPhone is and she can’t imagine a single mother having children outside of marriage, but her generation has long since lost its voice. As Mary sits outside, enjoying the many years that have passed since she retired from the workforce, several Millennial employees at Elmcroft pull up in their cars, swipe their cards at the front door, and give a friendly hello to Mary and the other women sitting outside.
The Millennial kids who were between the ages of two and 18 in 1999, are now all adults – taking over all aspects of life, love, work, and education. At a projected 75.3 million, Millennials are surpassing the Baby Boomer generation, now projected at 74.9 million people. For the first time in years, a new generation – the largest generation – is on the way to changing America.
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