handle with care's 2022 predictions
Playing fortune teller for the weekend.
In the last handle with care of 2021(!!!), Harry and Meghan’s Christmas card, and “The Bachelorette” season finale recap.
I noticed that people on the bird app have been posting Notes app screenshots with lists of their pop culture predictions for the new year. In eighth grade, I was actually the queen of writing random ass lists in Crayola marker, and putting them in the clear front pocket of my binders. Based on everything that has happened this year, I came up with my own list of 2022 predictions (and some hopes) over the past week to share with you all today!
Queen Elizabeth dies
Rainiest year on record in recent history
We find out how Instagram orders the list of people that view your story due to an internal leak
Messy eyebrows are in
AOC scandal
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson get engaged after he leaves the cast of “Saturday Night Live”
Cover letters will be abolished
A new Beyoncé album will be surprise dropped
A Little Mix song will go viral on Tik Tok after they start their hiatus
E! News comes back
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra will either get divorced, or announce that they’re having a baby
We get our 4th and/or 5th COVID vaccine shots
Timothée Chalamet gets into a long term relationship
More unionizations
The rise of Instagram influencers without themed feeds
Handwritten letters come back in a BIG way
Earthquake during this year’s Super Bowl
“1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is released
Josh Hutcherson renaissance
Chloe from “Too Hot To Handle” goes on “Love Island”
People pleasing is over, confrontation is now
Eccentric capsule wardrobes
RIP
Renowned writer Joan Didion passed away from complications of Parkinson’s disease this past Thursday. She was 87 years old. I recently read her essay on self-respect that was published in Vogue in 1961, and these lines from the last paragraph have stuck with me, especially now that we’re going into 2022:
“Every encounter demands too much, tears the nerves, drains the will, and the spectre of something as small as an unanswered letter arouses such disproportionate guilt that one’s sanity becomes an object of speculation among one’s acquaintances. To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect.”
In former Royal news…
Harry and Meghan released their 2021 Christmas card:
Archie’s and Lili’s red hair!!!! I’m about to cry.
The Bachelorette Week 10 (Finale + After The Final Rose) Recap
The season finale of “The Bachelorette” aired this past Tuesday, with a three hour live show hosted by one of the hosts, Kaitlyn Bristowe (Tayshia skipped the live show because she was recently exposed to COVID). And ya’ll… the show started out with a maskless live audience… in the middle of the Omicron surge!
The episode started with Michelle preparing to introduce her final two men, Brandon and Nayte, to her family in Mexico. Her parents, Ephraim and LaVonne, and sister, Angela, met Brandon first. Brandon met the parents a few weeks back in Minnesota, so naturally, they were already warmed to him. The man even brought Ephraim new swim trunks to replace the ones he borrowed from him! In short, the Youngs love Brandon, and would be excited to adopt him to the family. When Nayte meets the family, they’re a little concerned for Michelle. After talking to him, Angela isn’t sure if he could be content being still while living in Minnesota. This whole day is Nayte trying to convince them that he’s ready to commit to Michelle. LaVonne tells Michelle that she doesn’t think he’s ready to be engaged, but they’ll support whatever decision she makes.
After commercials, Kaitlyn is on screen to say that they saw the reaction to the maskless audience and assured everyone that they all tested negative, but they are all wearing masks now. The potential damage has already been done, I’m afraid! Time to see the final dates of the season, starting with Brandon. The two of them go jet skiing, and then talk on the beach about seeing her family. In the evening, he gives her his favorite white hoodie he wore during Fantasy Suites (the one that got food all over it)! Aw. The night ends with Michelle telling Brandon that she’s not falling in love, but that she’s already in love with him. And now she’s in love with two people! This can’t end well.
Michelle and Nayte’s final date starts with an appointment to see a shaman, because she wants Nayte to be able to open up to her. These kinds of dates feel so appropriative to me, and they’ve been happening on this show a lot lately. They do a smudging ritual to cleanse their energies, and it’s proving difficult for Nayte, which worries Michelle. Afterwards, he tells her that he’s afraid to lose her and he only thinks about spending his life with her. This is what Michelle has been waiting for! When she gets back to her hotel room, she finds a note from Brandon, an action similar to the one from last week where he interrupted her at the rose ceremony.
It’s proposal day! Nayte and Brandon both pick out Neil Lane rings for Michelle and get ready to see her. The first person to step out of the SUV is famously the one that gets dumped, and this season it’s… Brandon. He meets Kaitlyn and Tayshia and tells them he thinks he’s going to get engaged. He walks down to the beach and reunites with Michelle. We either need to stop these beach proposals or add subtitles to the show because I couldn’t hear anything they were saying. Brandon starts his little speech, but Michelle stops him. It is very sad, but even when they are breaking up, she tells him she loves him. During Brandon’s ITM after the break up, he throws the ring off a cliff into the sand. My thoughts go out to the crew member that had to dig through sand looking for it.
Nayte shows up to meet Michelle, and assures her in his speech that he will always put her first. She calls him her soulmate!!! He gets down on one knee, and presents her with an oval-shaped ring, and she says yes! They celebrate with a mariachi serenade. Nayte and Michelle are officially the first Black couple to get engaged on a flagship show in the franchise. Look at their height difference!! I love it! I was rooting for Naychelle the whole time from my couch.
On the “After The Final Rose” post-show, Brandon sees Michelle for the first time since their breakup. He said he wishes her and Nayte the best, but still wondered why she didn’t pick him when he always reassured her as opposed to Nayte. What an interesting note to leave on! Nayte joins Michelle for their first public appearance together as an engaged couple, and guys… they are so happy. Their parents are in the audience, and their moms are besties now. The producers have a gift for Nayte and Michelle, hidden inside a gingerbread house. Since they’re house hunting in Minnesota, they were given a $200K check for a down payment on a house. Imagine going on “The Bachelorette” and walking out engaged and with a new house… only in my wildest dreams. Kaitlyn helps usher in the next season of “The Bachelor” with Clayton by reading some mean tweets about him, and showing a preview of the season (which I will cover here on handle with care).
Happy holidays, friends!! I’m taking the next week off to decompress and read the copy of “Crying in H Mart” I got for Christmas. Thanks so much for reading handle with care, and any of my other writing this year. I wish you all a happy and healthy new year, see you Jan. 9!!