Wear Sunscreen
Last week I heard an interview with Mary Schmich, the Chicago Tribune columnist who wrote the famous “Wear Sunscreen” graduation speech, on The Takeaway. John Hockenberry asked her if she had any advice for today’s graduates and she said, “No becasue I think advice is a form of nostalgia.”
She is so right. I think of all the times I’ve given advice, particularly about weddings more than babies even. It’s just as much about remembering what it was like to try on all those dresses as much as to tell a my friend that by beyond having fun, trying on lots of dresses you get to really figure out what you want your wedding to be—which is what I did.
And whenever I hear a friend is pregnant it’s so easy to slip right back to those first months when I’d prepare for a stroll by wrapping the baby in a polka dot blanket from pine cone hill and stashing gripe water in my baby bag for my occasionally colicky Conrad to prevent any new mom, new baby, new to the park freakouts. I also always give them as gifts too, which makes me think presents can be a form of advice. (See my my mother’s day post).
It’s funny Schmich didn’t want to give advice but she still did because now I’ll always think, why am I telling this person what I’m telling them, is it for me to remember or for them to learn? I guess it will be both.