#25 This is the practice

On Saturday I took myself on a date to go see Tom Cruise cling to his youth in Top Gun: Maverick. I didn’t want to see it, but it was playing at the closest theater in the only acceptable time slot, so I did. I enjoyed it despite my curmudgeonly inclination to hate the things most people love (like pop music, Squid Games, and the season Fall).

Afterwards, I went shopping in a department store for the first time since 2019. It was weird, clothes seemed more expensive and the racks seemed less full and I think fashion might be really, really terrible right now. I grabbed some sensible items but also a daisy-print baby doll dress, and right as I tried that dress on a Very Young Sales Associate knocked on my dressing room door to ask me if I needed help. I swung open the door and said “Is this good or is this a mistake?” holding the hem of the dress out like I was ten and asking my mom, and she—with her plump cheeks, unlined face and platform flip flops!—said matter of factly: “It’s aging …