Dear New Friends
Thanks so much for signing up
Oh hi new subscriber! (Or OG subscriber who’s been here from the jump!) How are you today? I hope you’re well.
Cool Lexie says “Hello” as well
I’m so so glad to be writing you a letter.
Last weekend was really nice. The girls were with me and Carlos, and we had a good time for our last weekend together this summer.
On Friday, I had a major realization right as I left the office. (Basically, I figured out how my new schedule which starts next week and will be saving me so much time—cutting my work time by between 30% and 40%! I hadn’t yet been able to figure out how what I was inspired to do ended up saving so much time, but that evening as I sat with my calculator and I finally understood the way I set up the schedule led to no longer needing 10 minute breaks between sessions (I batch them in three, for anyone who cares) so it is ending up saving me well over an entire day of work every week, while still being able to support around the same number of people as before, which is kind of important to do in the middle of a national mental health crisis. :-) (To explain, I was starting to feel the Pandemic Burnout that I have seen really affect some of my colleagues (leading some of them to have to go on full hiatus to recover) the last few months, and realized I needed to make an adjustment in order to take care of my mental health.))
That was a very long double-parenthetical. Ha.
Anyway, I had that realization and then immediately left my office because I had ordered pizza for the girls so we could have a movie/pizza night. And as I walked outside and smelled the briny sea air (my office is next to the Puget Sound and it’s truly lovely to be so close to the water every day) I felt so invigorated. I almost didn’t even notice how I was feeling as I walked up the hill towards my car (weird that we can do that, right?), but as I passed the quaint little Presbyterian chapel with a small bell-tower (which is the oldest in Tacoma FYI), an older gentleman coming down the hill toward me smiled and said “walking on a night like this you can’t help but be happy!” and it hit me how right he was! His comment got me to slow down and be present, and as I looked around, I was filled with joy and awe and good feelings. The clouds were cotton-candy pink and the water of the sound looked ethereal, and it was one of those snow-globe moments where everything feels so picturesque and perfect. So instead of getting into my car I just kept walking for a few minutes and basked in the joy and beauty and gratitude I was feeling. Here’s a picture I snapped with the perfect dangling moon.
Then I snagged the pizza and got home to my little blue house where my chickens were waiting. And I’ll tell you what, Dominoes really nailed it that night—the pizza was strangely delicious (several of the girls made this remark). And we talked and laughed. (Anna is 16, Viva is 14, Tessa will be turning 12 in October, and Lexie is 7 if you haven’t been updated on them for a while.) And then we watched The NeverEnding Story which made me feel so warm and good and connected to my childhood in a beautiful way, and the music from it is playing in my head right now, even.
(Side note: has anyone else noticed the fact that Bastion’s creepy-ass dad gives off “I murdered my wife” vibes at the beginning? I never noticed it as a kid, but this time as I watched him be his smug, orange-juice-and-egg-in-the-blender-guzzling self, and as I listened to him respond to Bastion’s sweet “last night I dreamed about mom…” with some crude, insensitive, non-attuned lecture about “we have to move on, you have a responsibilities, we can’t just feel sad about her forever, blah blah blah” I realized he had the deadest, creepiest eyes ever and I was like “bro murdered his wife FOR SURE.”)
On Sunday evening, Carlos was working (driving bus for Pierce County) and so the girls and I took a walk through North Tacoma to Jefferson Park where they played on swings and ran around, and we visited our favorite huge tree.
Then we went to dinner together at Panera Bread, and it had been a really long time since I ate at Panera bread. Sadly, they were out of most baked goods (you had ONE JOB, Panera Bread) but it ended up being really delicious anyway, and if you have never had their macaroni and cheese, you are in for a treat you’re welcome I love you.
But by far the most exciting thing last weekend was that all of you took the time to sign up for this little ol’ newsletter.
I was truly bowled over by that. I meant a lot, lot, lot to me.
I have thought about it all week and it makes me smile and feel so good inside. So thank you to each and every one of you for following along.
Here are a few more pics:
We love suffrage.
Annual trip to Silverwood with the Shafers, at the annual going-back-home-breakfast-at-Denny’s
Me riding the “Mountain Dew” ride, which is a derivative of Lolly’s parents’ “Diet Coke” ride. It’s truly the best ride in any amusement park. (I can’t do rollercoasters much anymore. My body is ancient of days.)
Human spawn as they were back-to-school shopping
Adorable pic of Lolly with the girls.
All right. Not gonna be too picture heavy round these parts cuz I’m not great with a camera, but I hope this gives a bit of a vision of the humans I adore (minus Carlos? Not sure why he wasn’t in any of them. He is an elusive creature. Like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster and the next available attendant at the DMV. He is a treasure and I will talk about him more at some point, for sure, probably in some of my letters to my mom :-)).
Anyway, thanks again for jumping in with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day today.
Love,
Josh