Jenna Bush Hager has ‘coffee with her younger self’ in viral trend. See what she wrote
Jenna Bush Hager sits down with a young woman for a cup of coffee.
The two laugh as the young woman tells Jenna stories of her boyfriend getting caught trying to sneak out of her house and how she and her twin sister once slid down the house’s bannisters.
But it wasn’t just any home, it was the White House. And that woman wasn’t a stranger — it was a young Jenna Bush Hager. No, Jenna hasn’t invented a cool form of time travel and didn’t actually sit down with a younger version of herself.
Instead, she was participating in the viral trend that sees people imagining what they might tell their younger selves over a cup of coffee. In the videos, people explore how they’ve evolved.
In Jenna’s version, her younger self “shows up in low rise jeans and a toe ring.” An adult Jenna reflects that she “wouldn’t wear either now.”
“She brings a book with her, probably Ann Patchett or Donna Tartt. She can’t believe that she gets to read for a living,” Jenna’s take on the trend continues. “She reminds me that our parents read ‘Little Women’ and ‘Charlotte’s Web’ to her twin sister (still her dearest bestie) and her. I tell her we delight in reading those books to our own precious kids.”
“She asks me for advice. I tell her fun is underrated, and even though life doesn’t always go according to plan, your biggest dreams can still come true,” she wrote.
“I hope to get coffee with her again soon,” the video concludes.
Jenna’s video is one of many inspired by poet Jennae Cecelia, who posted a TikTok of a poem that describes meeting her younger self for coffee on Feb. 4.
Cecelia tells TODAY.com that she initially wrote the poem as part of her upcoming book “Deep in My Feels” which begins with poems about when she was young and follows her into adulthood.
“I was at a coffee shop and had this idea for a poem that I felt really completed what the overall theme of the book was. The book has themes of self-discovery and a healing journey. That’s what I really think the poem was for myself and for other people,” she says.
In that coffee shop, Cecelia — who was beginning to drink coffee less — thought back to how a younger version of herself had such a vastly different coffee order. Thus, the poem was born.
Cecelia’s version notes that her younger self was late to meet for coffee and wore stained sweatpants, compared to her adult self’s dark blue jeans.
“She lets out a sigh and has a good cry,” Cecelia wrote in her poem. “I tell her to release her feelings one at a time. The scars on her have now faded on me quite a bit. I want to tell her it won’t always be like this. But I don’t. She doesn’t need to hear that things will be better. She just wants a hug and reassurance of her feelings during this uncertain season ahead of her.”
Cecelia tells TODAY.com that her original poem was more about being a “listening ear” for her younger self, rather than coming “with a ton of advice.” She finds it “interesting” how the trend has become a way for people to provide their younger selves with the wisdom they’ve accrued.
“In the future, I’d love to write a piece that explores more of what I would actually say for advice if I were to give her advice,” she says.
She admires how people are “honoring who they once were” through the trend and hopes that taking the space to reflect helps them.
“I hope, moving forward, people can use that as a way to continue to express themselves,” she says.
Cecelia describes the poem’s virality as an “out of body experience.” She saw as celebrities, like Sophia Bush, used the trend to prompt heartfelt reflections.
Now, she’s thrilled that Jenna has joined in. In fact, she says her mom had asked, weeks ago, if Jenna had participated.
“She knows Jenna has the Read with Jenna book club group and she’s like, ‘Oh, she seems like the perfect person.’”
After seeing Jenna’s take, Cecelia says she thought, “This is really awesome.”
Cecelia hopes that everyone takes away a message of personal resilience from the trend.
“I’m hopeful that people can recognize that they’ve come a long way from where they think they’ve come and be gentle with who they were in the past,” she says.
