Waiting for pop-off heads... 😂. On a more serious note, after clicking on "why I'm here" and reading your introductory post again, I hope you know what a difference you've made for me and I'm sure many, many others.
I would LOVE to get into this book club! Also, I feel like the article she wrote for the NYT two years ago (which took me three hiding-in-the-bathroom installments to get through) was SO spot on about the changes to NYC, which feel adjacent to all of this, really. $5k for a "minimally invasive" procedure that I would MOST DEFINITELY feel too squeamish to even watch on YouTube to ensure we look... alike? (I, too, thought of these women as one woman.) Anyway, I think there are numerous parallels on where our culture is headed. And the appeal of the cashmere beige life is also in line--the way we want to ascribe to something everyone else is doing at the risk of looking like outliers / originals. That seems to be exactly what Ms. Hamilton laments in the loss of those early-days regulars who created the culture of Prune to begin with. I love Nancy Meyers, too, but I also love color and character and would hate to see the erasure of those into some new high-level moneyed mediocrity. Hey ho!
Great gravy, that sounds painful. Nope nope and nooooooooo. I’m willing to wait for a tablet that invigorates my dermal structure from the interior base level, yes indeedy. (And thanks, Val, for doing the digging so we don’t hafta.) 💜💜💜
Great idea! I’ve signed up for the book club. I love audio books because I can listen when I’m on the move—doing chores, errands or out walking. It’s much harder to find time to curl up with a new book, as appealing as it sounds. Now how about a film club to give us the courage and inspiration to face these threatening and unpredictable times? ❤️
As much as I loved Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give (although, please, Jack Nicholson? Give me Keanu any day!), I feel that the whole coastal grandmother thing (which is of course is way gone by now) was the epitome of Whiteness and wealth. I know it was just for fun; however, who we choose as role models can reinforce what we believe is more desirable based on race, ethnicity, class, and so on. I love seeing Michelle Yeoh and others like her as my goals for aging well or at least better.
Feb 16, 2023·edited Feb 16, 2023Liked by Valerie Monroe
I have to confess that it's remarkably sad that people in their mid-20s feel the need and pressure to undergo surgical procedures for their faces and bodies. I know, I know...to each their own yet what is being modeled to this generation? And guess what? We older ones don't do much better about acceptance of who we are. It's such a tension, which you write so well about, between sincere care for oneself (yes, please, I'll use sunscreen to reduce wrinkles AND avoid skin cancer - - hopefully) and acceptance of the aging process and being soft and wrinkly like a shar-pei...
So much to think about! I’m always somewhat mystified whenever young people, especially genetically gifted ones, choose to go down the rabbit hole of “minimally invasive procedures”’ (MIPs).
This weekend I had the pleasure of returning to my college campus for our 50th class reunion, where I joyfully reconnected with several delightful kindred spirits from my student days.
Our faces were not touched by MIPs, although they were indeed touched by time, miles of smiles, trails of tears and all the emotional weather in between.
When the inevitable topic of aging well and evolving came up, my friends were all ears when I told them about HNTFUYF and your mirror meditation. I shared how I sometimes see my spunky, sassy 5-year-old self grinning back at me. One of my friends, a therapist and deeply spiritual person, smiled knowingly and remarked, “She wants you to see her. She wants to be seen. She wants you to know she’s still there.”
My friend’s observation made my heart sing, and in that moment my world became brighter and more optimistic. One wonders what decision about MIPs Hailey and Ireland (and countless others) might have made if they’d practiced the mirror meditation.
Last, although I’m not a Coastal Grandmother, one of my favorite shirts is an Anne Fontaine fitted beige and white number. Vive Le Beige!
Waiting for pop-off heads... 😂. On a more serious note, after clicking on "why I'm here" and reading your introductory post again, I hope you know what a difference you've made for me and I'm sure many, many others.
I would LOVE to get into this book club! Also, I feel like the article she wrote for the NYT two years ago (which took me three hiding-in-the-bathroom installments to get through) was SO spot on about the changes to NYC, which feel adjacent to all of this, really. $5k for a "minimally invasive" procedure that I would MOST DEFINITELY feel too squeamish to even watch on YouTube to ensure we look... alike? (I, too, thought of these women as one woman.) Anyway, I think there are numerous parallels on where our culture is headed. And the appeal of the cashmere beige life is also in line--the way we want to ascribe to something everyone else is doing at the risk of looking like outliers / originals. That seems to be exactly what Ms. Hamilton laments in the loss of those early-days regulars who created the culture of Prune to begin with. I love Nancy Meyers, too, but I also love color and character and would hate to see the erasure of those into some new high-level moneyed mediocrity. Hey ho!
Great gravy, that sounds painful. Nope nope and nooooooooo. I’m willing to wait for a tablet that invigorates my dermal structure from the interior base level, yes indeedy. (And thanks, Val, for doing the digging so we don’t hafta.) 💜💜💜
Great idea! I’ve signed up for the book club. I love audio books because I can listen when I’m on the move—doing chores, errands or out walking. It’s much harder to find time to curl up with a new book, as appealing as it sounds. Now how about a film club to give us the courage and inspiration to face these threatening and unpredictable times? ❤️
A book club! Yesss!
As much as I loved Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give (although, please, Jack Nicholson? Give me Keanu any day!), I feel that the whole coastal grandmother thing (which is of course is way gone by now) was the epitome of Whiteness and wealth. I know it was just for fun; however, who we choose as role models can reinforce what we believe is more desirable based on race, ethnicity, class, and so on. I love seeing Michelle Yeoh and others like her as my goals for aging well or at least better.
I have to confess that it's remarkably sad that people in their mid-20s feel the need and pressure to undergo surgical procedures for their faces and bodies. I know, I know...to each their own yet what is being modeled to this generation? And guess what? We older ones don't do much better about acceptance of who we are. It's such a tension, which you write so well about, between sincere care for oneself (yes, please, I'll use sunscreen to reduce wrinkles AND avoid skin cancer - - hopefully) and acceptance of the aging process and being soft and wrinkly like a shar-pei...
❤️
So much to think about! I’m always somewhat mystified whenever young people, especially genetically gifted ones, choose to go down the rabbit hole of “minimally invasive procedures”’ (MIPs).
This weekend I had the pleasure of returning to my college campus for our 50th class reunion, where I joyfully reconnected with several delightful kindred spirits from my student days.
Our faces were not touched by MIPs, although they were indeed touched by time, miles of smiles, trails of tears and all the emotional weather in between.
When the inevitable topic of aging well and evolving came up, my friends were all ears when I told them about HNTFUYF and your mirror meditation. I shared how I sometimes see my spunky, sassy 5-year-old self grinning back at me. One of my friends, a therapist and deeply spiritual person, smiled knowingly and remarked, “She wants you to see her. She wants to be seen. She wants you to know she’s still there.”
My friend’s observation made my heart sing, and in that moment my world became brighter and more optimistic. One wonders what decision about MIPs Hailey and Ireland (and countless others) might have made if they’d practiced the mirror meditation.
Last, although I’m not a Coastal Grandmother, one of my favorite shirts is an Anne Fontaine fitted beige and white number. Vive Le Beige!