Boomers are heading into (very) old age following a pandemic, a time of overt ageism and shamefully deficient eldercare. The front wave, now in their seventies, are on the brink of life changes that will be challenging for everyone – family, friends, and for the health care system too.

Recognizing the dire need to tackle these changes, journalist and sociologist Gillian Ranson, a front-wave boomer herself, investigates what they are doing to prepare for old age.

Whether an “elder orphan” living in subsidized housing, a busy grandparent doing daycare pickups, a small business owner phasing into retirement, or a wife learning to cope with a husband’s dementia, they all share one thing – they need intimate, caring social ties to other people.

Just as the baby boomer generation transformed life for teenagers and youth in the 1960s, they now have a chance to create a better way to grow old. Their stories hold lessons for us all.