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The Saint Louis Zoo’s new Michael and Quirsis Riney Primate Canopy Trails are now open! Under construction since late 2019, the 35,000-square-foot, $13 million outdoor expansion contains eight new outdoor homes for primates and climbing structures that allow guests to explore the forest canopy next to the animals.

The Gatesworth

is hosting a reception July 22 to celebrate co-founder David Smith’s new book, It’s About Time: How to Grow Revenue with Prospect-Centered Selling. Along with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, the event includes a reading and Q&A with the author.

The Saint Louis Art Museum has named Min Jung Kim as its new director. As the first female to hold the title in the museum’s 142 year history, she brings almost 30 years of experience to the role, including her most recent position as director of the New Britain Museum of American Art.

PATTY

by patty hannum

Fontbonne University will hit the field in fall 2022 as one of the charter members of the Midwest Sprint Football League, a new independent athletic conference.

A MUCH-LOVED SUMMER TRADITION IS RETURNING!

Every Friday in August, the Gateway Arch National Park Foundation will stream a free concert on its website (archpark.org) and Facebook page as part of its sixth annual Blues at the Arch performance series.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN

you find out your man crush just celebrated his 85th birthday? Do you replace him with someone younger? Do you just keep crushing on him until he hits 90? Kris Kristofferson turned 85, and I am stunned. He recently retired from touring (actually, the pandemic forced his decision), but he was on stage with his guitar at 83 singing “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make it Through the Night.” This is a guy who wrote songs for Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash, plus hundreds more. He lived hard and, at the age of 70, nearly came to blows with Toby Keith. We all know who would have won that fight, but seriously, how can he be 85 and still look that good? Trust me when I say it is not from clean living.

I have been thinking about aging a lot lately. As you may remember, I broke both my feet this year. I have bone spurs in my left foot that make it hard to walk any distance. (I wonder if this is punishment for mocking Donald Trump’s bone spur excuse to get deferred from the draft. Karma perhaps?) And most recently, I had a run in with my nightstand. It suddenly jumped in front of me as I leapt out of bed with a cramp in my leg. I hit the nightstand—hard—did a double axle and landed on the ground, scoring a 7.5 from the judges and a WTF from my husband as he woke up from a sound sleep to witness this performance. As I lay on the ground waiting for the applause to stop, Carey crawled down next to me and asked, “Are you OK?” knowing that asking what happened was pointless. I actually went back to sleep, but by morning, I knew I had hurt myself.

Long story short, after a visit to Urgent Care, a CAT scan and a transfer to the ER, I found myself injured but not injured enough. As the doctors and nurses around me had other more serious patients to deal with (heart attacks, gun shots, car crashes), my nightstand collusion became a low priority. As I was in the hospital bed with an IV going, hooked up to various things that beeped, I started to think about when exactly things took a turn for the worse. Was it when I tripped on the sidewalk and needed surgery for my shoulder? Wait, I think it was when I got shingles. Yeah, that was it. I remember thinking only old people got shingles, and then the doctor told me I was in the age group of people who got shingles.

I started thinking about all the things I was never going to do. I was never going to be able to summit Mt. Everest, run a 10K, sail around the world, explore the rainforest, become a soap opera star or walk the red carpet. And to be honest, I didn’t care. I hate to sweat or be in cramped quarters. I am a little bummed about never being on a soap opera, but I’ve never even been to an acting class, so that’s my own fault. It has nothing to do with age.

So, Kris Kristofferson is going to remain my man crush. Even though he no longer performs, I will continue to occasionally Google him just to see his beautiful face at 85, 90, 100. We will age together. Peace, my Peeps. &