RHYME TIME 🏠🐭

RHYME TIME 🏠🐭 

April 8, 2026 • Issue No. 34

For me, a dinner party is well-hosted when the food is delish, the vibe is cozy, and the conversation stays with you all the way home. A little over a year ago, in a book-lined room on the Upper East Side, the host asked a question that hooked us all. Clearly, it has stayed with me. This weekend in Crown Heights, over a table strewn with wildflowers, I got to share that question with new friends.

“What age rhymes with the one you are now?”

Now, you don’t need an age that literally rhymes (care, flair). It’s more about re-experiencing a vibe. Here are a few answers I remember from last year and this weekend (the people in both rooms were under 40):

Sooooooo relatable. (You couldn’t pay me to be an awkward pre-teen again!) As we went around the table sharing our answers, one guest described what she called the “spiral staircase” of life. Since you’re moving in a circle as you ascend, the orbital shape means you return to the same spot but from a different vantage point.

It was helpful to hear other people’s answers and I found joy in reflecting on and sharing my own. Here was my answer:

On my life’s spiral staircase, I feel like I’ve circled back to curiosity. The vantage point is different — I’m older, I have different responsibilities, and the world feels like a less stable place than it did when I was 8 — but it’s both familiar and invigorating to prioritize what intrigues me. It’s been a welcome break from the times I prioritized security, social acceptance, or accomplishment. I’m certain I’ll come back around to some of those other priorities but it’s okay if that’s not where I’m at right now.

In a recent conversation with a friend who was feeling frustrated at work, she wished she could go back to when she started her career. She said she’d tell herself to think about her interests and worry less about taking the first job that came her way after college graduation.

Here’s how her sentiment connects to the idea of the rhyming age/spiral staircase: when we’re attentive to these cycles, we can build on the lessons and opportunities these vantage points present.

Once you’ve figured out your rhyming age, go deeper by considering the lessons you learned at that younger age that might be helpful to you now. If you really want to twist the time-space continuum, consider what you’d say to your younger self and how that advice might’ve shifted your path. Happy Rhyming!

If life is a spiral staircase, chances are always coming back around.

Maybe what you needed to hear then is the same thing you need to hear now. 💎  

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