Ruthie Thompson is 50 years old, and she's about to take to the sky for the first time in her life, attached to nothing but a hang glider and an instructor. She couldn't be happier.

"I can't wait; this is just fabulous," Thompson says, almost chortling with glee at the idea of another outdoor pastime to add to a long list that already includes kayaking, bicycling and hiking.

This wasn't always Thompson's life. In her former home in northwestern Michigan, she toiled in the restaurant business for years until, as she explains, "I had a midlife crisis at the age of 42 and decided I needed to get out there and do all these things that I hadn't been doing with my life."

She dumped her job, moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., got a college degree and a new profession -- and met and married her husband. "He wooed me with hiking trips," she says, beaming, just before she sets off to soar through the twilight on the hang glider. She returns to earth ebullient: "This is what life is all about -- new experiences!" 'Hanging out in the sky'

Their parents and grandparents may have settled into quiet daily routines in their retirement years, with games of golf or bridge and the occasional theater trip to liven things up a bit, but baby boomers are more likely to spend their time tackling one new challenge or long-cherished dream after another. Tell us: How will your retirement differ from your parents' generation?

"Boomers are going to be retiring at the perfect point in time," says Ken Dychtwald, a San Francisco researcher and author who has studied aging for decades. "They have all these second chances: opportunities that were never available before and fewer limitations" from society, from family -- or as a result of their health. How long are we living?

Many boomers have always led far more active lives than did their parents or grandparents, and are in better physical shape, the obesity epidemic notwithstanding, so they can expect to live not only longer but healthier. And they have an additional advantage: medical advances that kick in when bodies hit roadblocks. That was true for 49-year-old Cory Foulk. The Hawaii resident grew up in Colorado and had always been active: swimming, running and eventually competing in Ironman events. Ironman athletes over 60

Foulk expected to continue with the Ironman tournaments for many decades. "There are guys of 65 who aren't even considering slowing down; guys I train with are entering the 80-to-84 age group," he says.

But Foulk was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in 2001, and by the time he traveled to India in 2005 for a pioneering hip-resurfacing operation (since approved in the U.S.), his right leg was almost an inch shorter than

his left.

"A traditional hip replacement wasn't an option, but the Smith & Nephew system appeared on the scene as a great option for young and very active people," says Foulk, who resumed competing only three months after his surgery. "I couldn't imagine spending 50 years just watching my pineapples grow. My dream was to continue competing, and thankfully I'll be able to do that."

For the 78 million or so American baby boomers, retirement will come at a point in history when those final decades offer more possibilities than limitations. "Some things won't be possible -- the advertisers who show that happy 70-something couple on a beach with the skin of 30-year-olds and the sexual prowess of adolescents are doing us all a disservice," argues 60-year-old Bob Gleeson, about to retire as medical director of Northwestern Mutual, a Milwaukee insurance firm. "But for every option that isn't there, five new ones arise."

For Fred Sievert, who was president of New York Life when he retired in 2007 at age 60, retirement offers a chance to revisit old dreams and passions or to pursue new ones. Sievert had long cherished the idea of attending Yale Divinity School and enrolled last fall for the first year of a two- or three-year program.

"After 30 years in business -- working 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week -- I felt that my spiritual education was taking a back seat," he explains. "My dream was to address that lack."

Sievert also hoped to pursue new dreams, such as a passion for teaching. "I may end up as an ordained minister" in a church, Sievert says. But that isn't the only goal: "It was all about pursuing a bigger idea: that stopping a career full time didn't mean that there were no new opportunities for me to develop still further."

The concept of retirement as a transition or a new beginning, rather than the final stage of life, is coming to define the baby-boom generation. "To boomers, it's clear that dreams can be pursued at any age -- why stop now?" says Jeri Sedlar, an adviser to The Conference Board on the aging work force.

Launching a part-time human-resources consulting business was one post-retirement dream for Mike Bourgon, who left a career as a banking and insurance executive in his early 50s. Part of his next life would involve tackling phobias that had plagued him since childhood.

For one thing, Bourgon didn't like heights: "I loved looking at the mountains, but (not) the idea of being on one." He was also afraid of dogs and horses. So, building a ranch in the tiny Colorado town of Placerville, Bourgon set out to change all that. "I now own two of the largest horses on the planet, including a

Clydesdale, and three of the largest dogs -- two Newfoundlands and a St. Bernard," he says.

To tackle his remaining fear, Bourgon learned to ski, then got involved with a program at the nearby resort of Telluride, teaching the disabled to ski. While the program's veterans worked with the physically disabled, Bourgon focused on working with mentally impaired children. "I'm so glad I got the chance to learn how to do this at this stage of life," says Bourgon.

Published May 16, 2008

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