Advice from my 80 year old self
Earlier this year while obsessing over what I’d post next on Instagram to remain cool and hip, I decided that I wanted to post some quotes – Those trendy, great font kinda quotes that everyone thinks are world class. Yes, those. I didn’t have any of those. Dammit. So there were options… Create them yourself - I use an App called OVER to put quotes over images I’ve taken. I don’t always feel like doing that though (read, I’m lazy). The alternative was to find a book of quotes already printed in those cool and trendy fonts. Funny, smart, quirky quotes… Yup, I’ll find a book I thought, so off I went. Those books, it turns out, are really, really expensive.
I did find this book though, “Advice from my Eighty Year old self”.
The text isn’t cool. It’s not a black curvy font over a white background (damn), but it did make me smile and nod in agreement as I scrolled through the pages. The book made sense, so I bought it and headed home. I started to think about how over the coming weeks / months I’d post a pic with a quote. Easy. I did a quick search for the author to read a little more about the project and then I stumbled across the news that at 38 years old, Susan O’Malley was pregnant with twins – Just over a week before she was to give birth, she collapsed into unconsciousness and died. The babies were delivered by emergency C-section but sadly didn’t live.
Stories like this make me stop and think. It’s just unimaginable. So terribly tragic. I struggle to comprehend, which is why I wanted to bring the story of Susan O’Malley to you.
Perhaps, like me, you’ve seen a quote, but weren’t a fan of the font, so you smiled and continued scrolling. Maybe you weren’t feeling great so it didn’t resonate with you, or it couldn’t serve you the way you needed it to, so you didn’t really pay too much attention.
Of course it’s unrealistic to question and know the origin of everything we read, see or consume, but that doesn’t change the fact that what we read, see or consume was created by someone. Someone like you, or me and there is a story. They have a story. She was pregnant with twins. They were walking their dog. He was talking to his wife. She was having a tough time with her mom. Everyone has a story - Some are just better at telling it.
You can find out more about Susan or her the quotes from her book on: