Humor in the Middle's 10 Most Popular Posts of 2025
And the stories behind what inspired them.
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As 2025 wraps up, I thought it would be fun to see which of the 54 posts I published in Humor in the Middle this year were the most liked.
So here they are, in the order in which they were published, from oldest to newest, along with a few thoughts on what inspired each one. I love to hear where other writers get their ideas, so if you do too, this post is for you!
Usually, older posts are behind the paywall, but until the end of the year (or I wake up on New Year’s Day), free subscribers can read them all. Enjoy! - Jen
2025 was finally the year I broke up with Facebook. No regrets! In fact, I wish I’d done it sooner. But that’s not why I wrote this piece. I wrote it because the profile photo I had on Facebook was so out of date, I felt like it was someone else. And she was probably sick of pretending to be me!
I love to write pieces in character, and it was fun to think of what a profile photo might think — and know — that a FB user might not.
This post was super fun to write. I got the idea from how my local utility company tries to guilt me about how much gas and electricity my family uses — even when we are out of town! They send letters in the mail AND emails. Isn’t that a waste of resources?!
I thought it would be funny if they also compared me to my neighbors in other ways. And that’s what this piece is about.
This post got the most hearts of any this year. And I almost feel bad about it, because were people looking for actual advice?? Oops. I’m sorry, this is just humor.
I got this idea because my husband and I sleep in separate bedrooms (big fans of the sleep divorce!) and we both love it (and each other, most days). But he still asks me to find the ketchup in the fridge, and so one day I joked we should also have separate refrigerators.
We did not buy a second fridge, but I did write this piece.
Let’s just say, I was not feeling optimistic going into the spring of 2025, but I found it fun to pretend that I was.
I wrote this piece to celebrate that precious first sip of coffee that is often the highlight of my day.
It was also when I was feeling overly optimistic that I could publish twice a week. Spoiler alert: I can not.
Sometimes the idea for a piece just arrives in my head fully formed. That’s the case with this one. It was a reaction I had to a lesser-known celebrity waxing absolutely poetic about her decision to divorce. Like, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone sound that excited about getting married.
I wish I could remember her name, so I could thank her for the inspo.
I’m just going to say it: Sometimes humor comes from hatred. And I hated the self-checkout lanes at one of my local grocery stores. There is not enough space for my bags! It doesn’t recognize napa cabbage! Sometimes there is not a single cashier working, and I have no choice but to use it!
Yet, I knew it was not really the self-checkout computer’s fault. Maybe, he/she/it hates me just as much. So I decided to look at things from the self-checkout computer’s perspective. And now I may feel sorry for it. People are even more annoying.
Some parents decorate their cars with bumper stickers to announce their child’s status on the honor roll and where they like to go on vacation. Some even advertise who they vote for or where they go to church. (Better be a considerate driver if you do either of those!)
I’m not a bumper sticker person. I like my anonymous car. And I have often thought these bumper stickers are really just humble (and sometimes not so humble) brags. So, this piece was my attempt to make the kind of bumper stickers I WOULD like to see!
In fact, I liked them so much that these stickers are all for sale in a variety of sizes.
If you are new to Humor in the Middle, you might not know that I have two teenage daughters. Sometimes it sounds like they are speaking another language.
I have tried to learn, but it’s very hard to keep up with Gen Z speak. I really gave it my all in this piece. This was a fun character to play with because even though she’s delivering bad news, she makes it sound SO ICONIC.
This one is just from a few weeks ago and did surprisingly well. Maybe lots of women plan to have fun in the future when they’re invisible! I have heard women complain about becoming invisible, but never celebrating it. This piece does just that.
It made me just a little more excited to get older. I mean, free wine and fries? Sounds good to me!
Have you tried to figure out what makes the popular ones popular? Is there a common theme or style or ... ? (Asking because humor is SO tricky to promote!)