Humorist Wendi Aarons on Growing Older, Bolder and Why She's Wearing Tunics Now
Show Snapshot:
Do you remember rotary phones, the Go-Gos, Gunne Sax dresses, and job hunting with a Crane’s heavy-weight paper resume in-hand? If so, you may be “tunics years old.”
Humorist Wendi Aarons helps us work through our mixed bag of emotions on midlife, being “ma’am’d,” and our vintage vaginas—with a pitch-perfect look at the indignities, triumphs, and comedy of being a midlife woman in her latest book, I’m Wearing Tunics Now: On Growing Older, Better, and a Hell of a Lot Louder.
Because funny never gets old.
In This Episode We Cover:
Why Wendi started writing humor and satire pieces about midlife.
Forget Generation Slacker. Gen-X sees midlife as vibrant (yet absurd).
Nope, nope, and no—30 isn’t old, says Team 50.
Is Gen-X the last generation to have shared cultural touchstones?
Rotary phones, Love’s Baby Soft, Top 40, Flowers in the Attic., and more 70’s and 80’s pop culture artifacts—oh, the mems!
After years of silos—SAHM vs working mom, suburbanite or city dweller—does midlife offer a unifying power?
Why does it take getting to midlife to stop giving a rat’s ass about what other people think?
We are feminists and free-thinkers. Why do we sometimes (still) feel bad about our necks?
Sexism and gendered ageism in vocabulary— or why women move from “Miss” to “Ma’am” and men get to remain “Sir” all the live long day versus moving to “Captain Saggy Balls.”
Best place to buy a tunic!
Quotable:
I kept going back to writing humor pieces about being middle-aged because I think it's relatable but also it's unexamined. And the third thing about middle age is that it has a depressing tinge about it, and I wanted to take that back.
Transcript:
Katie Fogarty [0:28]:
Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women who are unafraid to age out loud. Beauties, we are in the home stretch of 2022. Can I get an “Amen”? There’s something about crawling across the finish line of the year which is equal parts victorious and confounding. Where did the months go? Why didn’t I do the thing? Is it possible that my December to-do list looks exactly like my October to-do list? Did I not do all of those important to-do list things in October? No. No, I did not. But here’s the good news: all those holiday gifts that you haven’t bought yet, I’ve got you covered. You are about to gift everyone on your list, and I mean everyone – your sister, your girlfriend, your work wife, your college bestie – a hilarious gem of a book written by my guest today, award-winning humor writer, Wendi Aarons.
Wendi writes for places like McSweeney, Scary Mommy, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker. And lucky us, she brings her sharp wit and comedic voice to the frustrations, indignities, and comedy of being a midlife woman in her latest book, I’m Wearing Tunics Now: On Growing Older, Better, and a Hell of a Lot Louder. If you are Generation Graduated High School in a Gunne Sax dress and now find yourself firmly in your Tunic Years, stick around, this show is for you. Welcome, Wendi.
Wendi Aarons [1:52]:
Thank you! And thank you for that great plug for the book. I feel like I should send you a commission at some point.
Katie [1:58]:
Well, I absolutely adore this book. I love to read, I love to be connected to books that make me feel seen, I’m a librarian’s daughter also, I was raised on books. I’m a super book nerd, I used to read at middle school sleepovers, that’s you know, that’s how much of a book nerd I was. But I sat down and started this book just like I do with so many books that I read for the show, I have a little thing of Post-it notes and I stick them on pages that I want to remember things and go back to and talk about on the show and with your book, I had abandoned all the Post-its because I realized I was tabbing every page of the book and I absolutely loved it. So, it’s really a thrill to have you join me today to talk about it. I’d love to ask you to start with some stage setting. What made you decide to sit down and write Tunics?
Wendi [2:48]:
That is a good question, and I hadn’t really thought about it until I started to be asked this question. Because I think when you are kind of an ordinary person and have had an ordinary life, like I have, it’s easy to just quash your thoughts of writing a book because, what do I have to say? I didn’t climb a mountain, I’m not inventing life changing, lifesaving medicine, I’m not doing anything like that. But I kept going back to writing humor pieces about being middle aged because I think it’s relatable but also, it’s unexamined. The third thing about it is that middle-age sort of has a depressing tinge about it [Katie laughs] and I wanted to sort of take that back. I think our generation, Generation X, is probably the first generation that is more vibrant, and funny, and strong, and self-aware of being in middle age than perhaps other generations, and I’m generalizing here. But I wanted to write something that was relatable and obviously it worked because you found so many things in the book that you felt seen about.
But the Gunne Sax dress and the 8-track tapes, all of that is just such a shared experience and for whatever reason, Generation X doesn’t have a lot of representation in the media or in books. I mean, there are some, but I hadn’t found anything that wasn’t aspirational or inspirational or how to get through this time, that exists but I hadn’t found anything that was really just funny that was also witty with a satiric bent, so I’m like, “Well, I could do this.” And I started to get good feedback on some of the short humor pieces I wrote and then decided to just expand it into more of a book. I didn’t plan on the book being such a personal story because I don’t like to write about myself on that level but it’s hard to separate the two. So, the book starts with talking about how I’m crying on my 30th birthday and then sort of culminates when I’m on the steps of the Texas State Capitol at the age of 50. So, there’s a definite arc, and I think we all have that arc even if we’re not aware of it and just sitting down and taking the long view you’re like, “Oh yeah, I have done a hell of a lot by this age.” Even if it didn’t seem remarkable, it kind of is.
Katie [5:33]:
You write about, you just mentioned that you were upset for the first time, that you were crying when you turned 30. Now, for me, definitely on the north side of 50, that feels so comically young. And I know that you talk about your 50th birthday in the book so you’re past that book too. Has your attitude about milestone birthdays changed or not changed since you first had that experience of being bereft that you were as old as 30?
Wendi [6:00]:
What a dummy. [Katie laughs] Let me just say quickly that I see all of these social media posts where people are making fun of how old they feel at 30 or how they don’t stay out at the club as much anymore now that they’re 30. And I just keep thinking, “Oh my god, just wait. If you’re feeling old at 30, oh my god.”
But yeah, 50 was the first birthday party I ever threw for myself and decided just to embrace it because it is a badge of honor to get older, to be allowed to have another birthday. Because at this age, we all know so many people who never got that far or who are just having awful life experiences and we all just need such a reason to celebrate.
Katie [6:44]:
Yeah, I feel like I have that in common with you as well because I did also throw myself a 50th birthday. My husband’s like, "I want to throw you a party,” and I was like, "Nope, I’m doing it myself.”
Wendi [6:53]:
Oh, that’s awesome.
Katie [6:53]:
Yeah, I had a vision for what I wanted to do, and I had so many of the women in my life that I care about came for this big lunch, it turned into this epic 7-hour rosé drinking situation, and it just felt so special to celebrate. Because I think you really put your finger on it; we’ve all lost people, we’ve had experiences where not everyone gets to be 50, not everyone gets to age, so you do have to kind of throw your arms around it and feel grateful.
One of the other things that I felt we had in common in the book, and you touched on it when we first started talking, this universality that comes, the shared experience that comes from being part of a certain generation, which is interesting to me. Because in reading the book, I learned that you grew up in a house in North Dakota; I grew up on the 19th floor of an apartment building. But we have all these common touchstones, The Go-Go’s, rotary phones, the Gunne Sax dresses that we’ve already talked about, you know, we both went through a phase of life looking like a sister wife. And I feel like I had a lot of other things in common with you. Do you feel that that sort of commonality exists for midlife women, or is it just because we were so, these things imprinted on us because we were young when we first went through them?
Wendi [8:13]:
I think kind of both. The Generation Z and even the Millennials have so many more things out there in pop culture, they’re not all listening to the same radio station like we did, they don’t all hear the same top 40 songs like we did. So, I think that we benefit from Gen X’s analog, and we have all those shared TV shows because there weren’t that many TV shows to watch, there wasn’t a gazillion options out there. So, we have that commonality. And also, when we were teenagers, it was such a new thing to be a teenager and so we had all of this stuff marketed toward us like the Gunne Sax and the Love’s Baby Soft and all of that. So, maybe that’s why we have all of that in common or those shared touchstones. Three women I know in Minneapolis have this amazing podcast and social media account called Pop Culture Preservation Society.
Katie [9:19]
Oh, I follow them on Instagram!
Wendi [9:20]:
Yeah! And my mind is blown every post they put out because I’m like I had those Avon decanters, [Katie laughs] I had that! And you know, they’re really striking a nerve because of what we both just said, there wasn’t a lot of options so we all kind of shared in these things. I love it, it just...
Katie [9:42]:
They surface things like the lunchbox you had in 5th grade, and I’m like, “Wait a minute, I had that Fisher-Price pull toy when I was young.” [laughs]
Wendi [9:50]:
I actually was on their podcast last year because we all reread Flowers in the Attic together.
Katie [9:55]:
Oh my god! Those were my sister’s favorite books.
Wendi [9:59]:
I’ve read them all.
Katie [10:00]:
Of course.
Wendi [10:01]:
So, we reread it now as middle-aged people, and yeah, it was very funny.
Katie [10:09]:
Are they just as creepy? They were... what was it like going back, from the other side?
Wendi [10:15]:
I think the writing is atrocious, but it’s so funny. There’s so much unintended humor in there. But I loved it, these women that I don’t really know in real life, they’re in Minneapolis, we’re all about the same age and we all had the same shared experience of reading that book at such a young age, and it imprinting on us. You mention Flowers in the Attic to anybody who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s they’re like, oh my god, you could sit down and have a half hour conversation with them even if you just met.
Katie [10:49]:
Can I admit, at one point I wanted to be one of those kids? I feel like that’s so creepy and odd, [both laugh] but I was like, this sounds exciting, and then they’re like hiding away in an attic. It was all so dark and twisted, but I guess when you’re living like your just boring middle school life, maybe it seemed exciting. I don’t know, that’s weird, I probably shouldn’t admit that, I’m taking that back.
Wendi [11:12]:
Well, you know, arsenic is a good weight-loss tool.
Katie [11:15]:
[laughs] Oh my god. So, talking about things we shouldn’t admit or maybe we should admit. A lot of your book focuses on things, you know, that really resonated with me as well. My kids are 22, 19, and 15, and in the 22 years since I’ve been a mom, I’ve been a stay-at-home mom at two different times, as I know you went through. I struggled with that identity of how do you fit into those different circles of mothers. What kind of mother am I? The return to work, how hard that was the first time I did it.
And I think even though we had all this commonality when we were in these impressionable middle, and high school years, in the middle years, a lot of people’s paths diverge. Some people simply stay at work. Some people simply stay at home. Maybe we leave North Dakota, we leave the 19th floor of my apartment building, and you start to meet other people, and you start to realize that everyone’s doing it differently, and it’s hard to fit in. Do you feel like in midlife, there’s this sort of coming back together, or do you feel like people are doing midlife really differently?
Wendi [12:23]:
Oh gosh, that’s such a great question. Yeah, I actually do think people come back together in midlife, especially during the young mom phase. You’re also constantly freaked out and nervous and not sure you’re doing it right, and at least in my case, always kind of comparing yourself to how others are parenting. So, I don’t want to say there’s a competition, but there’s sort of this unsettledness, at least there was for me.
Katie [12:56]:
There was for me too. That’s why I really connected with so many chapters in your book.
Wendi [13:01]:
Yeah, and I think once you get over all of that, all of that anxiety kind of goes away, and you just know yourself better, so I formed deeper relationships with other women when I was past the young kid phase, for sure. Because that’s when I was kind of coming out of the mom fog and developing my own interests, and my own opinions, and I had more free time to do that as well. But yeah, it led to deeper connections with women who I wasn’t hanging out with because of our kids only. So, you know, in fact a lot of my friends either don’t have kids or I’m not even sure what their kids’ names are because we don’t connect on that level and I love it. I mean, it is more of who you are as a human rather than just your role in life.
Katie [13:58]:
Yeah, so many of the women that I had in my life for probably 15 years were the parents of my kids’ friends that became my friends. But then you’re right, as I aged and my kids sort of developed their own social life, I started meeting women that I was playing tennis with, that I was playing platform tennis with, and I developed these adult-only friendships that you know... I even have a really good friend, this is going to sound also insane, but I have a really good friend who doesn’t drink, and I’m like, oh my god, I met all my college friends at a bar. Wow, am I a grown-up now? I have friends that just, that I’ve added to my life that make them so rich that didn’t come in my earlier ways which was just, you know, college bars and play groups. So, it is interesting to see how our lives become richer and maybe more... I don’t want to use the word “authentic” because I feel like authentic is so overused, but you know, as you become more in touch with yourself and what lights you up, you’re able to add people in your life that light you up in this way that feels, you know, more of who you are today. What do you think?
Wendi [15:09]:
Yeah, and I think the midlife women, we’re past the age gossiping about somebody behind their back or being petty about things because it’s just like, move on, I either like you or I don’t like you, and I want to spend time with you, or I don’t. We’re not afraid to decline social invitations or continue being friends with somebody who makes us unhappy, so that leads to your circle getting a little bit smaller but also stronger.
Katie [15:43]:
Yeah, it’s clarifying.
Wendi [15:45]:
It’s clarifying. I say in the book, I think the political landscape has really changed that for a lot of people, too, over the past few years. You see people believing things and in people that you don’t. So, we’re not afraid to cut them out of our lives at this point, for better or worse, but that leads to your circle getting smaller still. You’re aligning yourself with people who you really connect with on a strong level of belief systems and what they’re doing in the world rather than you’re on the same soccer team with their kid.
Katie [16:26]:
Yup. I remember the phase where I was like, “Oh my gosh, my child made a friend that she doesn’t sit next to at the lunch table.” You know, where they really start to connect, and they build their own relationships based on the things that they truly care about rather than sort of proximity which is what happens to a lot of us.
I want to ask you about something, a review that I read when I spent some time on your Amazon page as I was doing my homework because, as I said, I’m a book nerd. But I saw that New York Times best-selling author, KJ Dell’Antonia, reviewed your book, and she said, "It’s hysterically funny, honest, and unflinching. I’m Wearing Tunics Now is the book Nora Ephron might have written had she lived long enough to realize she couldn’t give a fuck about her neck anymore.” And I love that because I love to imagine what would Norah Ephron think and do today. But why does it take getting to midlife to stop giving a rat’s ass about things like our neck and what people think, and friends by proximity, for many of us, this sort of insane, futile quest for perfectionism that plagues people? Why does it take getting to midlife to learn these things?
Wendi [17:37]:
In the book, I talk about just getting this new confidence in your forties, and I think that’s because women, you know, we’re so quiet for the first part of our lives, at least I was, and our generation was, that you maybe don’t put your hand up or you stay quiet in the back of the room or whatever it is. And finally, you either reach your life’s limit of being quiet and you just don’t want to take it anymore, or you just realize that you’re okay without pleasing the male gaze, or you know, I say in the book that at a certain point the male gaze isn’t even looking in your direction anyway, which happened to me. So, it’s like, why not just dress comfortably? Or why not just go to the grocery store wearing mismatched socks? I don’t care anymore. It’s not that I’ve lost all... I haven’t lost all...
Katie [18:34]:
You’re firmly in your Eileen Fisher...
Wendi [18:36]:
Yeah, it’s like I’m pleasing myself for once. Maybe we grow up, and we’re a good daughter, and then a good wife, and a good mom. And finally, when all that’s over, you’re like, I’m just going to do what I’ve wanted to do all these years. I’m not trying to please anybody anymore.
Katie [18:56]:
There seemed to be so many more rules, honestly. I have a 22-year-old daughter, and not that she’s rule-less, but she has the confidence to move through life in ways that it took me decades to develop. I think we did have these sorts of parameters, it was very like you were saying, to be the good girl, and you know, if you went to Catholic school where I did, there were a ton of rules. But we lived in an era where there was one way to hand somebody your resume; it was on creamy Crane’s paper, and you would be embarrassed if your bra strap was showing, and now, people wear bras as tops. You know, everything has changed, and there’s so much, I think, more freedom, fluidity, and flexibility, which is good. But it’s interesting to think of how much time you might have wasted on things that seem so ridiculous.
Wendi [19:50]:
100%. I’m very proud of the Gen Z and Millennials who have this freedom. I’m also a bit jealous, if I’m being honest, and I write in the book about how I worked at Warner Bros, and I had tried out for this writing program, and I didn’t get it even though the guy said mine was the best one he’d read. And for years, I thought, “Oh, I did something wrong. It was me. I wasn’t good enough.” And now, when I look back, I’m like, “Oh, it’s because he put all of his white guy friends in the program instead of me.” So, those are things that I wish... if that happened now, I would be well aware of it, and I would definitely, as they say, speak truth to power, or go yell at him, or make an angry post about it, something. But that doesn’t stand anymore, and back then, I think maybe we either didn’t realize it, or we just didn’t know what to do because we were so used to having to take the shit that was given to us.
Katie [20:54]:
You know, I so agree with you. And even though we’re better at speaking truth to power and not putting up with some of this ridiculousness, there are times when we still get sideswiped by patriarchal nonsense and cultural messaging, when we do feel bad about our necks, like Nora. I’m using the neck as a proxy for whatever body part or whatever part of your new midlife persona gives you agita. You write some very funny chapters in this book on how can middle-aged women look good in cell phone pictures. You’re very honest about your first foray into the world of cosmetic treatments. Getting to midlife gives us confidence and lived wisdom, but we also are not always fully past some of that nonsense. Why do we still fall prey to these cultural messages even though we’re so much smarter in midlife Wendi?
Wendi [21:43]:
I know. And that’s the crux of these humor pieces I wrote. It’s satiric because it’s making fun of society, telling us we’re supposed to look a certain way, but I also fall into that, so I don’t know. I’m straddling, this is all bullshit that I need to worry about my cheek fat [Katie laughs], and on the other side, I’m reading a dermatologist’s email about how I can get rid of my cheek fat. So, I don’t like that I still fall victim to it, but I do, and you know, I’m coloring my gray roots, and I am still working out, and I look at my stomach every day to see if it’s bigger or smaller, and you know, why do I care? But it’s really hard to let go of that.
Katie [22:31]:
Yeah. So much of this book is so honest and so funny. This is a perfect time for me to ask you to do a reading. We talked about having you share, I keep saying this book is hilarious and wise, funny, and warm, and I want to give our listeners a chance to hear a little bit of it. So, this is... Wendi, you’re up. You’re on deck.
Wendi [22:51]:
Okay.
A few years ago, I was in New York City for a week-long family vacation. The day before we headed back home to Austin, Texas, my younger son Jack and I decided to spend the afternoon wandering around Central Park until we were caught in a sudden and heavy rainstorm. We ran over to the American Museum of Natural History and waited in the ticket line inside the huge, beautiful rotunda. We were both in a good mood, looking forward to seeing the exhibits and to our après museum hotdogs from Nathan’s Famous cart across the street. Yes, I’m aware of what hot dogs are made of, but I don’t give a shit because they are delicious.
Jack and I finally approached the counter and smiled at the older woman sitting behind it. “Two tickets, please,” I said. But before issuing them, she glanced at us and briskly asked, “One student and one senior?” Uh, what? My started eyes quickly swung over to the sign on the desk that listed the admission prices, and yes, at age 15, Jack was indeed a student. But what was that other word she said? Was it “Señor”? Did she think I was a Spanish dude? Wait, maybe she didn’t say “Señor.” Maybe... Maybe that wack job said, “Senior.” Did she say senior?! How the hell could she think I’m a senior? Unless they had a ridiculously low entry point for seniors? My mind raced, and I frantically scanned the sign again, half expecting to see “Seniors - 30+” or “Seniors - Anyone with a single gray eyebrow hair.” But then, in quiet abject horror, I read this instead. “Seniors - 60+.”
My clammy hands grasped the marble counter for support while alarm bells rang in my ears. Me? Wendi Aarons, born in 1967, currently dressed like an unkempt grade schooler, a senior? Not that there’s anything wrong with being a senior, of course, but I wasn’t one of them. I was in my early 50s that day, a young-looking early 50s too, I thought, and not just because I was standing near actual fucking fossils at the time. The piece of crap allosaurus standing 15 feet to my left had at least 46 or 47 million years on me. And this ticket-pushing insensitive museum jerk thought I was 60... plus?! A few choice words to snap back and reply immediately popped into my head. Most of the 4 letters long, some of them rhyming with “Godd damn brother trucker.” But then I stared at the pricing sign one more time, slowly my eyebrows raised, my head tilted to the right, and a soft “Hmm” escaped my lips. The senior discount would save me $10. You know you can buy with $10? Two hot dogs, maybe even crinkle fries. A tense moment of silence descended in our corner of the packed museum lobby while I wrestled with the tremendous blow to my ego versus my deep seeded love of saving a few bucks.
Finally, my fugue state ended when my angry teenager hissed, “Mom, just get the tickets. You’re being weird,” and the long line of pissed of people waiting behind us came into focus. “No, thank you, I am not a senior,” I grandly declared to the museum employee, with as much condescension as a woman holding a wallet containing a Barry Manilow International Fan Club membership card was capable of. “Not even close. I am a regular museum admittance person. I was definitely not alive when Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA. So, good day Madame.” And then I concluded the horrific episode by haughtily jamming my credit card into the machine the wrong way while it angrily beeped, and my son and the ticket seller rolled their eyes. And that whole scene is middle age in a nutshell; humbling, undignified, and insulting, but also surprisingly full of perks you didn’t know were in the mix. What a rush.
Katie [26:55]:
[laughs] Oh my gosh, so you had to go buy your own crinkle fries after you...
Wendi [27:01]:
I did, I did.
Katie [27:03]:
I loved this opening because I actually when I read it, I had a flashback to an April trip when I went away with my sister, her son, and my youngest I was at the pool, I had played pickleball for the very first time because I was in Florida and I think you’re required to do that. And I was laying on this lounger, and I was getting up to get something, and I bent down to get it, and a young woman ran over to me and said, “Ma’am, can I help you?” And I was like, are you kidding?! I can get out of this lounge chair by myself, and did she just ma’am me? And you have a whole chapter on that how we get prepared for a lot of things in midlife. Some stuff we don’t know, like menopause, people don’t talk about enough, but we have a hazy idea it’s coming. But literally, no one prepares you for how much it stings the first time you get "ma’amed."
Wendi [27:56]:
Well, and you’re lucky because you’re in New York City where it happens probably 10 years later than it does here in Texas. I think I started being ma’amed when I was in my late 30s. But yeah, it’s like a slap to the face because you’re like, “What?! I’m a Miss!”
Katie [28:13]:
I’m a Miss, I know. It’s so ridiculous and silly, and you know, we’re age positive over on this podcast. There’s 100% no way I would ever look backward and want to be 23, 33, or even 43. I am delighted to be 53. I feel the happiest, the most confident, the most creative. I’m actually in better shape now than I was when I was younger, when I was in my college days smoking cigarettes, and my early mom days when I was eating mac and cheese with the kids and not going to the gym. I just feel great, and I’m banging the drum that we should all be aging out loud. We shouldn’t be hiding this. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s the most natural thing in the world. Yet, when I got ma’amed, I really had to look deep inside and say, why is this bothering me?
Wendi [29:05]:
Yeah, because it’s what you look like in society, I guess, somebody is judging you based on how old they think you are. And as I write in the book, men never have that happen. They’re called “Sir” their entire lives. No one is calling them Captain Saggy Balls [Katie laughs] when they turn 50. So, it’s just, you know, and we have "matron-of-honor" and all of this.
Katie [29:28]:
Oh my god, I want everyone listening to this to use the expression Captain Saggy Balls at your next holiday party. Everyone’s got to work this into the conversation. Report back to me on Instagram. I want to hear how that goes.
Oh my god, this book is full of so many gems. It was such a treat to read. Saying, “Such a treat to read,” actually makes me feel old right now. But it’s incredibly fun, and it’s brimming with humor, and you’ve got such a fantastic ability to observe and to kind of, surface all the things that every one of the listeners right now has experienced and maybe lived through and put it out in a way that it’s just... You know, it’s one of these books that I always say that my husband hates when I read in bed because I’m shaking with laughter and vibrating the covers. It was so much fun to read. I want everyone to put this on their shopping list, add to cart, please go buy it at your independent bookstore, buy it at Bookshop.org, which is an online convenor of independent bookstores, and throw it in your cart. And you know, you could also buy it on Amazon too, but they get enough business. Wherever you buy it, you need to write a review because I’ve learned from all the authors that come on the show how important it is to have reviews. After all, that’s what helps move books. Wendi, we’re going to be moving to the end of our show. Because it always goes so quickly, we’re going to close with a speed round. Are you ready?
Wendi [31:00]:
I’m ready.
Katie [31:01]:
Okay, one-to-two-word answers. Writing, I’m Wearing Tunics was _____.
Wendi [31:07]:
Oh god... Can that work? Oh god.
Katie [31:10]:
Yeah! Oh god. [laughs] Best place to buy a tunic: _____.
Wendi [31:18]:
J. Crew.
Katie [31:19]:
How many tunics do you own, give or take?
Wendi [31:23]:
Oh, under 15.
Katie [31:25]:
Wow! That’s a lot, okay. Is there a male tunic equivalent?
Wendi [31:31]:
Bathrobe?
Katie [31:32]:
I’m going to throw in a cardigan. Cardigan sweater, like a grandpa cardigan sweater. What else makes you feel old?
Wendi [31:44]:
Oh... music.
Katie [31:45]:
Yes! Thank you. When my kids put their music on, I’m like. I am officially 100. What makes you feel young?
Wendi [31:54]:
Laughing.
Katie [31:56]:
Nice. Your younger self would be surprised that at midlife, you are _____.
Wendi [32:02]:
More creative.
Katie [32:04]:
I love it. Finally, your one-word answer to complete this sentence: As I age, I feel _____.
Wendi [32:09]:
Free.
Katie [32:10]:
Free. Beautiful. Thank you, Wendi. This was so much fun. I love this book so much. I’m going to blast it all over social media; I really do want everyone to buy it and read it. I know you’re going to enjoy it so much. Before we say goodbye though, how can our listeners find you, your writing, and your other books?
Wendi [32:29]:
Oh, well, thank you for all the kind words. I have a very poorly designed website at WendiAarons.com. I’m also on Instagram and Twitter for now as @WendiAarons, so that’s the best way.
Katie [32:43]:
Perfect, I’ll put all of those in the show notes.
This wraps A Certain Age, a show for women who are aging without apology. And this wraps our 2022 shows. We are taking the next two weeks off to enjoy the holidays. We’ll be back the second week of January with a fantastic show to kick off the new year. Lesley Jane Seymour the former editor of More magazine, Marie Claire, and Redbook shares ideas on reinvention and productivity because your 2023 is not going to magically be awesome, organized and fulfilling all on its own.
Special thanks to Michael Mancini, who composed and produced our theme music. See you next time, and until then: age boldly, beauties.