You say:

"When we were paying double digit interest rates in our mortgages there wasn’t anything left to save."

and then you say:

"We were certainly aware of the ramifications of high interest rates and were aware they could go higher just as easy as they could fall."

So, after paying your mortgage with a ridiculously high rate, you didn't have any money left to save, even though you were aware that interest rates could go higher (at which point, how would you pay, because you were already tapped out)?

You just made the point that many boomers will never say, that you were lucky and not necessarily any smarter back then than homebuyers are today.