I write my novelist friend an email that is part of an exchange we’re having about how we (the over 40/50 women she knows) seem to be gaining weight. I tell her that my daughter has posted pictures on Facebook of me with my back to the camera that reveal I now have the bulbous butt my mother claimed I had when I was 15 and 16 (but didn’t have).

My friend writes, “I promise we won’t film your butt. That would be cruel. Nobody over the age of 14 should ever have a picture taken of their butt.”

I love my friend.