All Of The Selves We Have Ever Been
Menu

all of the selves we Have ever been

The Mystery of Me

4/20/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
 
“We seldom leave places we understand.”

I came across that quote during my morning time of prayer and reflection.  It is from the early works of the psychologist Jordan Peterson before he fell off the deep end.

Those words sink in; they explain a lot.  No wonder I am a wanderer.  I never know what the hell is going on.

On the outside, I am a focused, tea-drinking, worker-bee.  I miss the scoop to be had at the coffeemaker, the closed-door gossip sessions, and the after-work drinks at the bar.  I have a quiet, orderly, and rich interior life; the outside world can be so loud, chaotic, and mean.  With the added layer of social media, I sometimes feel that words have become a spray of bullets from an automatic weapon.   I try not to travel extensively in that world.  And so, it all remains a mystery to me. 

Perhaps that is why, as a school-age girl, I was so taken by Nancy Drew, and why I love her to this day.  She loved a mystery, and there was nothing holding her back.

In 2020, the year of the pandemic, Nancy Drew turned 90.  Since the world was preoccupied with a mysterious new virus, Nancy’s birthday did not get the attention it deserved.  If only someone had put Nancy Drew on the case…If only her father had won the White House, we’d know where and how this pandemic got started.

For nine decades, Nancy Drew has remained a teenager.  Detective work aside, one would think that many years of adolescence would exhaust anyone, even a super-sleuth.  I suffered four quick years of high school.  That was enough.  Why anyone would do it for longer remains yet another mystery to me. 

I try to imagine Nancy Drew, the idol of my youth, growing older, getting old.  Would she have survived to the age of 90?  Survived the pandemic?  Would she still be driving?  If so, would she still favor a sporty blue convertible?  Would she color her hair or proudly flaunt the gray?  Would Bess and George still be her best friends?  Would any of them be married?  Divorced?  Have endured breast cancer or other health crises? Would they have become parents or grandparents?  Would they still be rocking sweater sets and pearls?

And what of Nancy’s boyfriend, Ned Nickerson?  Did he graduate from Emerson College, or did he get drafted and shipped off to Vietnam?  If so, did he survive the war?  Did Nancy and Ned’s relationship survive the Women’s Movement?  Did they ever marry?

Did Nancy’s mind remain active, clear, and clever?  How did she cope with the changes of aging?  Was she ever lonely or sick?  Did she have regrets?   What was it like for her when her father retired?  After he died?  Did Nancy remain faithful to the housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, as Hannah got older?

What happened to River Heights, Nancy’s hometown?  Would Nancy have solved mysteries at Wal-Mart?  Shopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond?  Would she have cursed the increasing traffic on those old, familiar streets?  Did any creepy mansions remain with secrets left to expose?

Did Nancy remain able to live on her own into her eighth and ninth decades of life?  Or did she move into an assisted living facility or require a skilled nursing home?  What mysteries might she have found in those places?  Did she still find the answers to everything?

It is difficult to imagine Nancy Drew grown old because I am young when I think of her.  As a child, Nancy Drew allowed me to forget about my own life and enter hers.  While I remember many of the book titles, I don’t remember too much about the actual mysteries.  What stayed with me?  Her spirit and her lifestyle.  She was free to gravitate to what interested her.  She was not weighed down by life and chores and homework.  She was not limited by age.  Adults sought her help and advice.  Nancy’s lawyer- father trusted her, and Nancy was the one to look after his safety.  Nancy had company in her adventures; she had resources and encouragement.

Nancy Drew fed my hunger for an interesting, active life.  I am not alone—Hilary Rodham Clinton and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the many gals who took Nancy Drew as a role model for smart women.  But Nancy wasn’t just smart, she was self-assured, the quality most lacking in children, teens, and women of my generation.  Nancy was free of all bondage and baggage.  She didn’t just try to solve problems, she went looking for them.

Try as I might to imagine it, my mind resists the image of an aging Nancy Drew.  I prefer her gumshoes to my orthopedic shoes.  It was never in the program for her to become more like me. The real mystery was how to become like her.  She was an early female superhero.  Her superpower was helping young women to believe in themselves.

I really don’t want to see Nancy Drew in the nursing home—unless she is there to bust me out.  We’ll go to a garden patio and eat dainty sandwiches and drink tea served from a silver tea set.  We will discuss missing figureheads, missing grandsons, and missing violinists, spooky mansions, and our suspicions about the traveling circus.  We will find the lost sheet music, the stolen statues, and the hidden wills.  We will pour over the mysterious diaries and ominous notes.  We will not be deterred by cryptic warnings of danger.  We will live on—smart and self-assured with good friends, a swell car, the right clothes, and no homework.  And always, always, always--we will fight for what is right.

Nancy Drew can see what the world cannot.  It is no mystery to her that there is still a teenage girl in me.

2 Comments
cappy Hall Rearick
4/20/2021 02:04:30 pm

I loved Nancy Drew too ... maybe it's why I've written several mysteries, none of which were as good as hers! I loved her roadster and envisioned it as being an MG. I vowed to own a sports car one day and now I do! I think maybe I channel Nancy every time I drive my little "roadster."

Reply
Lilli-ann Buffin link
4/21/2021 08:06:36 am

Nancy Drew inspired us all. Each of her fans, in our own way, brought that remarkable fictional character to life. A mystery writer with a speedy little roadster--I am impressed. Drive on lady! Drive on!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Lilli-ann Buffin
    ​

      Get Notified of New Posts 
      Enter your email address and click on "Subscribe"

    Subscribe

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All
    Acne
    Adulting
    Advertising
    Aging
    Arms
    Barbie
    Baths
    Beauty
    Beloved Community
    BINGO
    Birds
    Books
    Branding
    Bravery
    Cars
    Catching Up
    Children
    Church
    Cliches
    Clothing
    Comfy Couches
    Coping With Stress
    Coronavirus
    Death & Dying
    Diets
    Dignity
    Discernment
    Drive Ins
    Drive-ins
    Driving
    Essential Workers
    Exercise
    Faith
    Falling
    Family
    Father's Day
    Food
    Friendship
    Fruit
    Games
    Good Intentions
    Goodness
    Good Old Days
    Grace
    Graduation
    Grandparents
    Gratitude
    Hair
    Handwriting
    Health
    Heroes
    History
    Holidays
    Hope
    Houses
    Humor
    Illness
    Imagination
    Influencers
    Ironing
    John Lewis
    Knowledge
    Laughter
    Laundry
    Leadership
    Libraries
    Listening
    Lists
    MacGyver
    Madge
    Magazines
    Mail
    Masks
    Memorial Day
    Memories
    Mental Illness
    Miracles
    Moral Lessons
    Mothers
    Music
    Names
    Nancy Drew
    Nature
    Neighbors
    Oreos
    Other-Mothers
    Our Stuff
    Outdoors
    Parenting
    Pets
    Phones
    Poignancy
    Politics
    Prayer
    Purses
    Reading
    Recipes
    Reinvention
    Revelations
    Rewards
    Rotisserie Chicken
    Saturdays
    Saving The World
    Schools
    Shelf Life
    Showers
    Siblings
    Small Things
    Sorrow
    Speed
    Sports
    Stores
    Substance Abuse
    Success
    Sunshine
    Technology
    Thanksgiving
    Toilet Paper
    Tools
    Truth
    Uncles
    Veterans
    Voting
    Walking
    War
    Water
    Weather
    Wilderness
    Wishing
    Women
    Wonder
    Words
    Work

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say
  • Home
    • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say