Do Not Miss NYAD!

Badass Aging By Two Of The Best.

VOL. 1 ... No. 39. November 7, 2023

Howdy Humpers,

A couple of nights ago, Stu and I watched the movie, NYAD, on Netflix.

I wish I could just howl to you like a coyote to convey how powerful this film is. Words are insufficient.

Aaah-Ooooooooooooooh. I’m howling. Can you hear the call?

NYAD tells the story of Diana Nyad’s quest to swim from Cuba to Key West. She first attempted the 100-mile, open-water swim when she was twenty-eight. When she failed in that attempt, she retired from swimming. But, the desire remained dormant deep within her, and at the age of 60, she said to her best friend, Bonnie Stoll, “Don’t you want to be fully awake? Your soul ignited by a purpose?”

Can you imagine at age 60 deciding you’ll accomplish something so physically demanding that you failed to do it at 28? Nyad says, “The only one who gets to decide when I’m through is me.”

Annette Bening plays Diana Nyad, and Jodie Foster plays her best friend, Bonnie Stoll, who agrees to coach her. They’ve been friends since their thirties, and Nyad is not an easy person to love. She’s self-centered, abrasive, driven, and haunted by childhood trauma. Throughout the movie, Stoll cajoles, supports, and sometimes, threatens Nyad. Whatever is needed in the moment. Stoll rides on the guide boat, within eyesight of Diana at all times as she contends with storms, the hazardous gulf stream, circling sharks, and deadly box jellyfish. As the movie progresses, we learn more about Diana Nyad’s life through flashbacks.

Even though Nyad’s accomplishments are already part of the public record, I’m not going to tell you too many details about the movie. I hate reviews that spoil a movie for me.

To prepare for their roles, Bening and Foster both trained for a year. Bening did all her own swimming in the movie, spending from 4 to 8 hours in the water every day. Both women are fit and fierce, and absolutely perfect in their roles. They look like real women with sun-weathered faces and the march of time imprinted on their bodies. They are experienced, amazing actors who have brought the best of themselves and their craft to this work.

When we are old, we are told our dreams are irrelevant. We are told our experience counts for nothing. We are inundated by media everyday urging us to ask our doctors for drugs. We’re told we need to look young in order to be relevant, and can achieve that by botox and surgery and lasers and lip fillers that can distort our faces into immobile masks. We’re told we’re going to need adult diapers, nursing homes, and motorized wheelchairs. We are told our minds are slipping away, and we are also told that drugs and surgery are the only answer for diseases. We are portrayed as frail, incontinent, indecisive, and lonely.

This is not my experience of older women. It is not me. Granted, some older people have terrible health issues, and I am not making light of that. There is true sorrow in suffering from a disease for both the ill person and their family. Disease can consume a person until the quality of their life becomes untenable. But, who stands to gain from our seeing ourselves as helpless and frail? Certainly not us.

Frankly, I’m not buying it.

Actors Bening and Foster, and their real-life counterparts, Nyad and Stoll, redefine what it means to age — Especially for women. Many years ago, I realized that I didn’t have a role model for aging that made sense and resonated with what I was experiencing, or what I wanted to experience. Bening and Foster have got me thinking that I can do so much more.

In her November 3 Washington Post article, columnist Sally Jennings says:

There are two foes in the film “Nyad”: nature and age. It is no spoiler to say that Annette Bening and Jodie Foster achieve a conquest over those opponents, not in some trite, scripted or airbrushed way but with the sinews and cartilage of real athletes. Every now and then a cultural moment comes along that exposes how severely and artificially we continue to limit the conceptual range of female ideals, and the cannonball biceps of these actresses in their 60s constitute a significant one. Sun-scorched, straw-haired, scored with tendons, they are glorious.

I took a screen shot of a photograph by Kimberley French. I’ve edited out other cast members because I wanted you to see how much the actors resemble their real-life characters. Bonnie Stoll’s t-shirt displays the theme for Diana’s quest, and probably for her life as well.

“Find A Way.”

Annette Bening, Jodi Foster, Diana Nyad, Bonnie Stoll

When Diana Nyad landed on the beach in Key West, exhausted, with her face and body sunburned, and her lips swollen almost to the point of not being able to speak, she said, “I got three messages.”

“One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.”

I want you to know, I’m thrilled you’re on my Hump Day Team. Together, let’s “find a way” to stretch and grow stronger. Let’s develop those muscles we didn’t even know we had — both physically and metaphorically.

Until next time . . . Aaah-Ooooooooooooooh!

Love Yourself and Love Who You Love.

It’s all the same thing.

Janna

Write that novel. Start that business you've always wanted to. The ultimate high of life is the commitment to pursuing something. — Diana Nyad