Becky Kliss

A Gen-X’er, born in 1968, Becky grew up in New Buffalo, Michigan, a one-stoplight town sitting right on beautiful Lake Michigan, an hour from Chicago. She grew up in a ranch-style home with caring parents and a younger brother, who as a family, brought the perfect mix of tradition and dysfunction to any household. She has a best friend (BFF) since first grade, and are still BFF’s to this day, some 45 years later. They lived for sleepovers with Doritos, Dr. Pepper, and their cassette recorders.

The 70’s were family times, playing games Sorry! Aggravation, Scrabble, and card games. In 1977 Becky fell in love with the Bandit and the black Trans Am and felt the world’s sorrow when Elvis died. She survived the blizzard of ‘78 building tunnels thru the snow and made the most of the short Michigan summers by hanging out in tree forts, riding bikes for miles without supervision, and playing combat sports with neighborhood kids.

She spent the 80’s: Guessing who shot J.R., mourning the sudden loss of John Lennon, charting the Chicago Cubs games every summer, and feeling the ground shake when M-TV blew up in ‘81. She melted with the world watching Luke and Laura and Princess Diana get married while envisioning her own prince and fairy tale story. She beat the sh!# out of the Atari paddles trying to keep Mario safe and got the best mail-in deal in the world with 12 cassettes for a penny (and so did her brother unbeknownst to him). Radio host Larry Lujack woke her for school mornings from powerhouse WLS radio out of Chicago. At 15, she and her BFF begged for a ride to Chicago’s Rosemont Horizon for their first concert in ‘83, Rick Springfield. She worked at 15 years-old at the New Buffalo Public Library to save money for her first car. She attended more kegger parties than she should have. A member of the graduating class of 1986 with 56 students at New Buffalo High School. Becky couldn’t wait to move out and head off to work and college, to earn her keep in the world.

The next three-ish decades were spent trying different things, building a career, marriage, and divorce. In and out of relationships, traveling, counseling, health challenges, and thinking she had it all figured out. In 2022, everything pivoted. Finally at peace with where life has brought her. She now lives with a fresh new perspective, reckless abandonment, and not fretting about what people think. At 50+ it’s time to be content and happy with the life we are given. Rallying with Gen-X’ers through in person gatherings or on social media groups, the 50-somethings are going through many of the same things. We’re on information overload from all the technology, our parents are aging or passing, kids today expect more from us, we’re tired of working our a$$es off – yet we’re wired to keep moving, and so much more. It’s time for us to fly and live our best life, because these ARE the Best of Times and we’re all in this together!

Through the decades, Becky saved every diary, every note, school paper, magazines, posters, and memorabilia from the 70’s and 80’s. In addition, she created polls (surveys) for classmates to answer questions through Junior High and High School. She was documenting precious data and didn’t even know it. These artifacts now bring sarcasm, humor, truth and reality to the upcoming book series, “When We Were Invincible” and offer life lessons for the children from the 70s & 80s. Some 40 years later, the 80’s are calling us back. Pick up the phone on the wall, and answer the call. Sign up for the email list for book release announcements and join the Invincible community on Facebook to rally together.