3 July 2022
Laying on the sofa on the Sunday of a long weekend while Nora and Bea play iPad games (a horrible pink monstrosity called Flufsies, a slightly more pleasant imaginative one called Toco Life), and Bo makes a fried potato and egg breakfast. I just finished watering and feeding all the indoor plants in my office and the dining room. Sam Cooke playing on the speakers.
Roe was struck down a week and two days ago. I've been crying a lot. I set up a recurring donation to Sister Song in Atlanta. Rebecca Traister on the strategic necessity and challenge of hope continues to reverberate in my thoughts, especially in light of a chant my friend Erin started last Saturday:
Her: "Radical!"
The crowd: "Hope!"
Her: "Radical!"
The crowd: "Love!"
Her: "Radical!"
The crowd: "Action!"
This thread on what it means to have a body with so many demands upon it, what it means (meant) to have autonomy over it, no matter how many people want to exert authority—it's excruciating.
My incredible therapist prescribed 2-3 applications of finding joy this long weekend. Maybe the first was getting out of the car to go to Treehouse for birthday presents, and Nora saying with a deep breath, "The fresh air! So much better than laying on the sofa with the iPad!"
More kid delight:
We've been watching the last Star Wars trilogy over the last couple weeks and really enjoying Rey and Finn and Rose as the new generation of heroes.
Two things that Nora and Bea said that cracked me up:
When Kylo Ren was telling Rey that she had to kill her past to rise up to her strength, Bea shouted out, "That's a big, chubby lie!" After Luke has saved the rebellion and is passed out from the exertion and gazing up at the sunset, Nora shook her head like Yoda and said, "Always looking out to the horizon. Classic Luke." Never his mind ON THE MOMENT!
May you find joy and moments of restoration and the strength to fight for the vulnerable and wrap them in love and support.