elder
The inspiration we seek is in the generation we've forgotten.
These days, the analog is a trend. But for the elderly generation, the analog is not a lifestyle. It’s simply their life.
They are the ones with a physical calendar hanging in their kitchen, scribbled with appointments, trips, and even the occasional nature anecdote like “swallows preparing to leave.”
They are the ones with a worn wooden recipe box filled with hand-written recipes. These are the kinds of recipes that were written for those with a foundation in the kitchen, not the overbearing, 10 page-long recipes you find on a food blogger’s website these days. These are the recipes written with an assuredness that you, the reader, would know which order the flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs, milk, and salt ought to go.
They are the ones who bike down to their mailbox and gather the Sunday newspaper, who pick up a landline when the phone rings, who grab a physical camera to capture a memory. They are the ones who collect catalogs to flip through on a rainy morning, who sit with a pile of books on their bedside table, who write hand-written letters and send them off with a spring stamp. Their photos live printed in an album on their shelf, along with the pottery vase they shaped, the beach stones they gathered, the dried herbs they foraged, and the dish towels they embroidered.
This is the kind of living that isn’t captured in an Instagram post or another Substack newsletter. It’s a thread of life that can only be witnessed with your own eyes, because it’s a matter of the tactile and the physical. This letter is our reminder of that.
The inspiration you seek is happening in real time, but it’s not in the confines of this online world. It’s happening with your grandparents, your elderly neighbors, the friendly gentleman clutching a newspaper as he crosses the street.
This is the touched, heard, and felt. Analog living does not belong to this online world — it belongs to theirs.
The elderly generation is the trend. The best part is they have no idea.
So beautifully tender. This hit home in more ways than you know 🤍
This gave me a warm memory hug.