Thank you, Mari. I really enjoyed reading your post. We eat dinner at 7. (We don’t go to bed till midnight most nights.) We do so because we watch Jeopardy while we eat. Since retiring, and especially the last 2 years, Roger and I are together 24/7. Dinner is no longer a newsy or decision-making time. We pretty much have all day or most of it for that. A very know-it-all in-law tells us that is too late to eat! His wife once told me I should not be vacuuming with a baby on my hip! It got the job done! Anyway, I look forward to your next article.
Your system sounds perfect for you! I can never understand why other people feel justified in criticizing other people for such innocuous acts as eating at a particular time--or vacuuming with a baby on your hip! I bet your daughter preferred riding on your hip while you vacuumed to being left in her playpen!
Jan 13, 2022·edited Jan 13, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer
I can't believe that eggplant isn't healthy. It is, I hear, a nightshade, a type of plant some people consider unhealthy. Great article, though, Mari. I wish I wrote as well as you. A girlfriend once criticized me for ALWAYS wearing the SAME shoes. "Men do this," she sniffed. Just like, "Men always go out in the rain without umbrellas."
All this said, not sure I'd wear hiking boots to the opera, say, unless it was snowing out. I still cringe at a memory of my going to a client event with Birkenstocks, mostly because I didn't have regular shoes. My partners didn't like it, and I still think of it as an example of my being a loser from a young age.
Then there was this time I went to a friend's wedding in Shreveport. The reception was held at the father of the bride's men's club. Dark brown wooden walls and ceilings and dark brown carpet. Somehow, I had forgotten to pack my "good shoes" and only had dirty white sneakers. So you can imagine how they stood out against the sea of dark brown. I kept moving from wall to wall, hoping no one would notice.
They did. One young woman came up to me, rolled her eyes and said in her pronounced southern drawl, "I'd die for your you-know-whats!" Might've been a compliment along the lines of, "Wow, you have guts to wear those." But I tend to think it was more like, "I'd die rather than be seen in those."
These aren't really Eggplant Principle examples because I was sort of forced to wear what I had or hadn't thought ahead about what I'd need, in the case of the Birkenstocks. Safe to say, I've spent a lifetime wearing and doing the uncool thing.
I love imagining you wearing your comfy but unfashionable shoes! Every time we wear our comfy shoes, we strike a blow against Big Shoe! (And I, too, somehow never seem to have an umbrella when I need one.)
Well, probably--public transportation in Prague is remarkably safe. But Skenazy's experiment did happen during the years when NYC had record-low crime.
Thank you, Mari. I really enjoyed reading your post. We eat dinner at 7. (We don’t go to bed till midnight most nights.) We do so because we watch Jeopardy while we eat. Since retiring, and especially the last 2 years, Roger and I are together 24/7. Dinner is no longer a newsy or decision-making time. We pretty much have all day or most of it for that. A very know-it-all in-law tells us that is too late to eat! His wife once told me I should not be vacuuming with a baby on my hip! It got the job done! Anyway, I look forward to your next article.
Your system sounds perfect for you! I can never understand why other people feel justified in criticizing other people for such innocuous acts as eating at a particular time--or vacuuming with a baby on your hip! I bet your daughter preferred riding on your hip while you vacuumed to being left in her playpen!
Of course, she did! Me too!
Your eggplant principle reminds me of my own rules for what I do- if it isn't fun, useful, or kind, then I don't give a- well, you fill in the rest.
Very well put!
...give a behind?
sure, let's go with that.
Is your last name "Jones" by any chance?
I can't believe that eggplant isn't healthy. It is, I hear, a nightshade, a type of plant some people consider unhealthy. Great article, though, Mari. I wish I wrote as well as you. A girlfriend once criticized me for ALWAYS wearing the SAME shoes. "Men do this," she sniffed. Just like, "Men always go out in the rain without umbrellas."
All this said, not sure I'd wear hiking boots to the opera, say, unless it was snowing out. I still cringe at a memory of my going to a client event with Birkenstocks, mostly because I didn't have regular shoes. My partners didn't like it, and I still think of it as an example of my being a loser from a young age.
Then there was this time I went to a friend's wedding in Shreveport. The reception was held at the father of the bride's men's club. Dark brown wooden walls and ceilings and dark brown carpet. Somehow, I had forgotten to pack my "good shoes" and only had dirty white sneakers. So you can imagine how they stood out against the sea of dark brown. I kept moving from wall to wall, hoping no one would notice.
They did. One young woman came up to me, rolled her eyes and said in her pronounced southern drawl, "I'd die for your you-know-whats!" Might've been a compliment along the lines of, "Wow, you have guts to wear those." But I tend to think it was more like, "I'd die rather than be seen in those."
These aren't really Eggplant Principle examples because I was sort of forced to wear what I had or hadn't thought ahead about what I'd need, in the case of the Birkenstocks. Safe to say, I've spent a lifetime wearing and doing the uncool thing.
I love imagining you wearing your comfy but unfashionable shoes! Every time we wear our comfy shoes, we strike a blow against Big Shoe! (And I, too, somehow never seem to have an umbrella when I need one.)
But isn't it possible that it was more dangerous for kids to ride the NYC subway than public transport in Prague?
It would be interesting to trace when, how, and why parents became increasingly concerned and felt a greater need to protect their kids.
Well, probably--public transportation in Prague is remarkably safe. But Skenazy's experiment did happen during the years when NYC had record-low crime.
Record low or record high?