Janet Mason Loves--39-em Big -

In her memoir and poetry collections, Mason frequently meditates on the threshold years. Why 39? It is the last year of a decade before a major symbolic shift into 40. Mason describes the late thirties as a period of "radical honesty"—when pretenses fall away, and the body speaks its truths. She loves the "bigness" of this age: the big questions, the big emotions (Em), and the big decisions that shape the rest of one’s life.

Janet Mason, an acclaimed author and lecturer, has built a literary career around the themes that matter most: the earth, the body, and the untold stories of women. In her reflective work, Mason often returns to a number—39—a midpoint between youth and elder wisdom. To understand what Janet Mason loves is to understand the "big" moments of transition. This article explores how Mason’s writing captures the grandeur of ordinary life, specifically around the pivotal age of 39, where personal history and universal truth collide. Janet Mason Loves--39-Em Big

One of Janet Mason’s greatest loves is the natural world. In her book "The Unicorn and The Rainbow" and her blog "Tea with the Universe," she writes about how observing a single oak tree or a migrating bird can ground a person facing middle age. She argues that by age 39, most people have experienced enough loss and love to recognize that "big" does not mean loud—it means deep. Her meditations encourage readers to find their own "39-Em Big": that emotional magnitude found in quiet woods, empty beaches, or a child’s laugh. In her memoir and poetry collections, Mason frequently

(Content would focus on a maker or artist named Janet Mason who "loves" a large-scale project numbered 39, using the rare word "embiggen" — meaning to make bigger.) Mason describes the late thirties as a period