Aline Weiller’s Fun: Essays On A Life Embraced is a fun conversation with a perceptive friend who has lived, laughed, and loved deeply. Part memoir, part cultural reverie, Weiller captures the Gen X experience with a voice that’s both personal and relatable. One of my favorite essays reflects on the color purple, which I’ve declared the official color of Generation X. Afterall, Purple Rain (1984) The Color Purple (1985) and Purple Haze. (1982) Also, Donny Osmond’s famous purple socks. (She didn’t mention the lavender cords I pined for in the Dallas Fashion District in 1981, but there’s that, too.)
The essays vary in tone—sometimes funny, sometimes poignant—but always grounded in honesty. Weiller’s willingness to try stand-up comedy later in life is especially admirable. It reveals a spirit of curiosity and courage that runs throughout the book. But it’s in her reflections on motherhood where I found her voice most affecting. The essay on her son leaving home and another one about navigating the empty nest are beautifully rendered. A bonus Q&A with her 26-year-old son left me wiping away tears. They reminded me of the universality of the “overprepared” Gen X mother.
Embracing Life, Motherhood
There are many charming Gen X touchstones throughout the book including pale blue eyeshadow, Watergate, and an essay devoted to Patridge Famliy. There is also much dedication to the here and now, and as the title confirms, embracing life, particularly motherhood. I loved the essay on Fanilow and timewarping to 7th grade during a Girls Night Out. As the mother of a competitive twirler (and this is very sidebar) it was great to read that she played with a baton growing up, and alongside Mrs. Beasley to boot!
Finally, FUN is just so smart and lovely. I’m a sucker for any woman devoted to her family and when Weiller talks about coping with the subtle sadness of dropping her youngest off at college, I’m totally there. My youngest leaves for college in two months, and so I’m going to hold on to these words on the last few pages of the book:
I reframed my subtle sadness and swapped it out for growth and goals, insight and interests…upcycling, indeed. I opted for reinvention and discovery, not wallowing in the dry straw of my empty nest…I opened the door to healthy change–for my children and myself.”
Fun Essays On A Life Embraced is atestament to life well-lived and perhaps more importantly, one that is still unfolding. I recommend it for readers who appreciate vulnerability, humor, and the little moments that collect to form a life.
Connect With Aline
