The Natural Order of Things

It’s been so so so so so sooooooo long since I wrote here, actually nearly a year, which feels so shameful. But I’ve been working hard to break into magazine work and (to my delight) have kind of done it – at least, a little bit.

But I miss this space so much, and really I miss being creative for no reason at all other than to create. And I’ve been reading a load of great writing lately which always makes me feel like, “Hey…I wanna do that!”

It’s spring in Asheville, which really means that absolutely everything is exploding with new life. Last week, evidently, was the week in this country that the most birds are active in their migratory patterns, so the bird watching is out of sight. We have two (!!) different bear families tromping through our back yard this year: one mom of three yearlings (we saw those same cubs as teeny tinies last year), and another, younger mom of two little cubs. The bear sound is distinctive and my ears are trained for it now: squirrels and birds throw off whatever the equivalent of an audio misnomer is as they loudly flit around the bamboo forest floor, but bears sound slower, more intentional, and heavier-footed as little twigs snap under their weight. More ominous in the best way.

There’s a house finch who’s tunneled her cylindrical nest into my geraniums, just outside and to the left of my back door. Her five brand-new baby birds, who were eggs just a few days ago, are now blind little downy squeak-balls hollerin’ for their mama. She’s very judicious about when she goes over. She won’t approach the nest if anyone is watching her. She’ll flit from perch to perch so she can always see it, but if she sees me trying to sneak a peak (no matter how still I am, and please feel free to laugh at the mental image of me trying really hard not to move or make eye contact with a bird), she waits until I am safely behind glass to make her move. I still have yet to see her feed them, but I can hear when she’s there because the chorus of five little bird heads announces her comings and goings.

This morning, there was a lone duck swimming across the surface of an otherwise perfectly still lake, fresh after a rain storm, with grey clouds hanging around the mountain peaks in the distance. Glassy surface except for the little triangular ripple from behind one creature making waves, the evidence of its movement spanning wider and wider the farther back I looked.

There are bright red cardinals – the younger, the brighter – learning how to position their frills just right to attract a mate.

And the flowers, good GRIEF. After the unseasonably cold temperatures late into the year froze off the completely ethereal cherry blossoms, I was feeling nervous about what we’d get. But the roses, the snapdragons, the TULIPS standing up at attention, the billion different shades and hues (somebody teach me the difference between those one day, k?) of green, my mom’s peony garden which is, as you can imagine, just plain stupid in its beauty. The little petals that look like torn crepe paper, the dahlias and honeysuckle and lilac…I knew none of these flowers except for the obvious ones before moving here because nature really just Wasn’t My Thing. What a dummy. Thank God for learning.

My hydrangeas were impacted by that pesky freeze I mentioned a second ago and despite my very tender care of them over the last two years, I was forced to cut them all the way back to their stumps this year. There probably won’t be any flowers, but I’m encouraged to see that they’re producing big, lush, green leaves anyway. Sometimes I go talk to them and tell them they’re doing a great job.

There are so many metaphors in here about new life in a weary world, but the world is, in fact, too weary sometimes to make those connections. My husband would say that means that this one’s “just for us,” which is something he says when we’re witnessing a moment we wish we had a camera to capture, but don’t have one handy. It also reminds me of the song Rosie’s requesting most often right now, Just Around The River Bend from Pocahontas, which begins: “What I love most about rivers is, you can’t step in the same river twice: the water’s always changing, always flowing.”

There’s some metaphor about cutting back for new growth; something about mis-hearing something and something else magical happening instead; something about the exquisite essence of the profoundly temporary; something about protection and watching and waiting; something about trusting and singing. Something about blooming. Something about dying. Something about not having anything to record it and just doing it anyway. Just to do it.

Just for us.

Things I'm Taking to 2022

One of my happiest moments in 2021, as baby sea turtles made their way toward the water on a Nicaraguan beach. Smiling so hard my neck is about to explode.

I used to write a post at the end of each year reflecting. I got away from that for a long time, and I’d love to go back and share a few things (some silly, some not-so-silly) that I learned in the year 2021 and will be taking with me into 2022. Even though, you know, we’re basically halfway through January. This is life in a pandemic, people! Time is an illusion!

  1. Put your car in neutral before you throw on your parking brake. This tip is brought to you by TikTok, which I joined this summer after much hemming and hawing and have enjoyed IMMENSELY since. Anyway, most of us put our car in park, then put on our parking brake. The logic here is that by putting your car in neutral first, you’re allowing the parking brake to do all the work it’s supposed to - next time you do this, try it both ways. When you put it in neutral first, you’ll notice that when you put it in park, the car doesn’t lurch forward at all. That’s because all the weight is in the right place! MIND. BLOWN.

  2. Putting berries in mason jars makes them last longer. It just does. Try it.

  3. Deconstructing your childhood faith makes for a really beautiful new version. I’m still a Christian, don’t get me wrong. But from where I’m sitting, the vast majority of churches seem to have lost the thread (many of them United Methodist, so please don’t hear me casting stones without looking inward). I haven’t given up on church (I am loathe to ever give up on anything, to my sometimes-detriment), but I’ve realized more and more that the true work of being a Christian involves work on yourself - not in an “I’d like to sin less” kind of way, but more of an “I am going to be kind to myself and treat myself with radical compassion and patience in order to do the same to everyone in my life,” way. I know this sounds kind of basic, but the execution of this simple idea is seemingly impossible to teach on a large scale. So often get lost in the dogma that we end up teaching our children more about the proverbial “to do list” of Christianity than we do about how to honor others by improving yourself. In a departure from Bible Belt theology, I think being able to be gentle with myself and not beat myself up about everything allows me to extend the same grace to other people: to not hold a grudge, to be slower to anger, and to be more truly gracious when I feel disappointed. Put another way: if I am unrelenting with myself, raking myself over the coals or holding myself to an impossible standard, how would it be possible for me not to do the same with others? So much of Christianity today is teaching people to look inward and hate what they see (and, therefore, look into the world and hate it, too); the simple idea of God’s unconditional love suggests we’re supposed to look inward and love ourselves. Not because we don’t need improvement or because we haven’t made mistakes, but because we are worthy of love just the way we are. Rather than thinking of that as prideful, beginning to approach it as humble seems like the right move. To accept, to be present, and to detach yourself from judgment – that’s what love looks like, even before the improvements begin. Real, radical love and acceptance feel like they’re right at the heart of the truest Christianity I’ve ever seen practiced.

  4. Hard right turn: If you have even a slightly hooded eye, do your winged eyeliner in only the corner of your eye. Not all the way across the top. BAM.

  5. Saying, “No.” I’m not a “No is a complete sentence,” type of girl, mostly because that seems rude as hell to me, but I know what the sentiment is behind that idea: you don’t need to justify yourself. I don’t know if it’s being in my thirties or what, but I am so much more comfortable saying that I can’t make things happen. Whether it’s a work request or a hangout with friends and family, if it’ll cause me stress to make it happen, I try to find another place for it on my calendar (or just skip it altogether). This extends to finally having the gumption to excuse myself for some alone time on big holiday visits with family (which I never did before lest I seem rude).

  6. If you type “docs.new” into your search bar, Google Docs will open a new Doc for you. Same goes for Sheets. I went baby viral with this tip earlier this year, so I felt like I needed to include it.

  7. Slugging is what cool girls do now, apparently. It’s when you apply a thin layer of Aquaphor or Vaseline to your face after you use moisturizer in order to set the product and create a barrier for it to be absorbed. It’s now the last step in my skincare routine. It makes me feel like a very shiny, luxurious bitch, I’ll tell you what.

  8. When my thoughts start spinning out of control, I have a catchphrase! If I find myself having accidentally swum down a cerebral wormhole of doom, I’ve started to notice, stop myself, and say OUT LOUD, “Wow, look what my brain is doing!” Okay, so for example: if I called a friend and they didn’t call back for a few days. if I caught myself thinking, “Ugh she probably doesn’t want to call and is kind of avoiding calling because it’s a chore to call me back,” I’d say, “Look what my brain is doing!” out loud. This helps with two things: one, it separates me from the thoughts, training myself to remember that I am not my thoughts and that that’s completely baseless anxiety; two, it does that without judgment. It’s so easy to say, “UGH I’m doing it again.” But just noticing it in a neutral way is so much more helpful and kinder for me.

  9. Re-examining routines. In early fall, I took a hard look at my morning routine and decided to make some changes that have significantly improved my day. You can read more about that here.

  10. Gift withholding. Friends of mine hate this for obvious reasons, but I often withhold gifts from my kids. Not quite as harsh as it sounds: this was born from Mac’s birthday being on 12/15, a mere 10 days before Christmas. Our house was filled with gifts for a one-year-old who didn’t even know where his nose was! I started hoarding his gifts in the bottom corner of a closet in order to parcel them out throughout the year. He always gets all his gifts! Just not all at once. Blessedly, during lockdown, it proved to be a saving grace: we had a treasure trove of new toys. Our kids open everything, then we surreptitiously sneak a few into a closet. If they ask about them, the toys come right back out! If they don’t, we keep them back for a while.

  11. Water your houseplants from the bottom. Seasoned gardeners are probably rolling their eyes at this one, but I just learned it and it changed my life. Take your houseplants out of their pretty containers and fill a dish with water, then place the plant in the dish and you can literally watch it drinking. !!!! It’s miraculous! And it keeps your plants from being over-watered or only watering-can-watered at the top, but not throughout.

  12. Romanticize your life. This goes nicely with #9, but I have loved incorporating things that are there simply to make me happy into my life. Every day at 2:30ish, I make myself a fresh cup of hot coffee and enjoy it as my afternoon treat. It gives me a boost for my post-nap/quiet time stretch until bedtime, but also feels like a gift I’m giving myself. I’m trying to find more of those to sprinkle throughout my day. It makes me so much more grateful for every little luxury, no matter how small!

  13. Not taking things so personally. Again, this probably is just a product of getting a little older, but I am really leaning into the idea that people’s reactions and responses almost never have anything to do with me. It’s a lesson that, when it clicks into place, is so freeing and magical. Was that person kind of an ass? Has nothing to do with me. I can love them anyway!

  14. Dressing for women. (Most) men will never appreciate women’s fashion. I have officially stopped giving a shit if any male thinks I look crazy. I think I stopped caring a couple of years ago, but now I’m pouring my energy into putting together outfits that I and other women might think are cool. I saw a Tiktok that was like, “If I walk down the street and a middle school girl says I look cool, that’s the whole point.” Yes. THAT. Thank you, Sammi Jefcoate, for inspiring millions (#iykyk). Am I going to start dressing like a character in a Wes Anderson movie? Maybe. Maybe I will.

  15. Stepping away to think. I am someone who often feels pressure to agree to things if I’m in person or on the phone with someone. I feel equipped to speak my mind or stick to my guns via email or text, but it’s harder for me when I feel I’m disappointing someone and I can hear it in their voice. I learned this lesson with some freelancing work I was being asked to do earlier this year, when a boss of mine was asking for more than I was able to give. I could feel my heart pounding and the urge to just say “Yes,” was bubbling up. So instead of making a decision on the spot, I said, “I really appreciate the question and I’d like to take some time to think about it. Let me get back to you within the hour!” That little getaway car slowed my heart rate, gave me a chance to step away, and allowed me the space to think through how I wanted to respond. When I called back, I was able to politely but firmly decline without worrying I’d accidentally backslide into “Yes” mode.

I know it’s corny and definitely unpopular, but I had a wonderful 2021 in so many ways. It was the year I worked for the first time (like, really WORKED, as in traded services for money) as a writer. I dyed my hair pink and learned to really enjoy something unconventional. I co-hosted one of the most fun Galentine’s parties ever. I got to watch my children grow and change in so many ways. Jordan and I launched a small business. I visited one of my very best friends in the world twice in Nicaragua and got to see so many other dear friends and family members. I had Thanksgiving with my family after missing last year. So much was beautiful, even when it was hard. Feeling very, very humble and grateful.

What about you?? Anything you learned in 2021 that you want to share with the class?

And Just Like That, Episodes 3-5

The holidays ate my lunch in terms of regular updates about this show, so I’m going to attempt to condense a few down using some bullets episodes by episode.

Let’s start with some random thoughts from the last few!

  • I really appreciate that when Rose said she didn’t “feel like a girl,” Charlotte took it straight to Anthony, who poo-poo’d it. I think it would’ve been easy to have a gay character immediately take up Rose’s cause of gender ambiguity/non-binary feelings and become her champion, but instead, the writers chose to place Anthony in his generation more than in his sexuality. It further proves that the LGBTQ+ community is not a monolith, and that everyone has their own struggles or points of tension in their understanding — even within the community itself. I loved this little piece of writing. And I loved Charlotte’s reaction at the comedy show when Che’s words hit her. You can see it all over her face that she gets it, even if she isn’t ready to get it.

  • The clothes porn in the “Carrie returning to her apartment” episode. If you’re a superfan, you already spotted it, but not to be missed: the coat from her “fashion roadkill” moment being used as her bedsheet; the giant tulle skirt and white booties from seasons of yore being re-used. The purple sequined Fendi Baguette.

  • The Stanford of it all is ridiculous. What in the hell. I know they had to find a way to write him out, but this felt so flippant and silly with little context and (at least for now) no follow-up is such a whiff.

  • The entire Natasha stalking plot line, y’all…why. Why?

  • Seema handing Carrie her ass when she was acting like a whiny brat was excellent television. Carrie tends to be incredibly egocentric and having a sturdy woman clap back at her in a kind but firm way was just the medicine she needed. More Seema!

  • And while we’re here…Carrie was a brat to Charlotte when Charlotte brought up Miranda’s drinking. Yes, Charlotte is a meddler and very prim. But she’s also a sweet friend who loves her bestie and is noticing a troubling pattern. Care more, Carrie!

  • The Miranda/Nya lunch and the “kids are great but not that great” moment. It’s a hard one to watch. Miranda is so repressed and unhappy that it’s seeping out of her pores. I loved getting to explore the “Should I become a mom?” questions through the eyes of these two women. And I’ve said it before: God bless the folks who know they don’t want kids and stick to their guns. Children aren’t ever something that someone should be coerced into having, and I respect the hell out of people who know it’s not for them.

Episode 5: Painfully Hip

  • Carrie’s apartment has had another makeover and the wallpaper is TO DIE.

  • I like that they’re rotating in Samantha subs. They didn’t designate one character to replace her - we’ve had Stanford, Anthony, Seema, sometimes no one.

  • I feel like the Big of it all being gone is making Carrie lighter and brighter. She has laughed and smiled more this episode than any so far.

  • This little shitty girlfriend ordering lube and tube socks to Miranda and Steve’s, then saying “That’s why I don’t order things online.” First of all, you just did?! You’re holding them? And secondly, I loathe choice to just let high school Brady have a live-in girlfriend. I know I sound like a grandma here, but it’s INAPPROP and you can’t convince me otherwise.

  • Bringing a colorful and insane knit blanket to the hospital is so perfect and on-brand. I once saw Carrie Bradshaw bring her laptop to a repair shop in a pashmina, so I brought my broken apple laptop into a repair shop in a pashmina. And now, whenever I have hip surgery or have another baby, I will bring an insane, brightly colored knit blanket.

  • “I think it was a false alarm.” “Um, Carrie? You’re peeing.” “I am?” “Yes!” “…am I done?” “Nope. I’ll let you know.” Drugged Carrie is amazing.

  • Carrie eating a baguette in the back of a bread van getting carried by a giant muscled hottie, I am LIVING.

  • I love watching Charlotte and Harry journey through Rock’s exploration together. I think it’s both rough and real.

  • How do we feel about about Miranda’s transition into experimenting with Che?? I’m Team Miranda always AND also it’s an interesting move for this character. Obviously we know Cynthia Nixon is gay in real life and that Sara Ramirez is both bisexual and nonbinary, so we’ve got that piece of context to help explain why their sex scene was raw, beautiful, passionate, and electric (not that two straight women couldn’t have pulled this off, but this felt like it was on another level of fire). At first, I felt like it was a little bit of a curveball to see Miranda, who had up to this point in the series showed no indication of being interested in women (that I remember, am I wrong here?), suddenly make that jump. Then again, using someone’s past history of sexuality to indicate where their heart truly lies is silly and ignorant; plenty of people make changes later in the lives because of any number of factors. I ended up feeling like it isn’t actually that big a leap, and the relief and glow on Miranda’s face after that kitchen romp were gorgeous. The ensuing conflict between Miranda and Carrie is gritty and great. Sometimes the fact that these two women (Cynthia Nixon and SJP) have known each other since they were teenagers really shows up and makes a scene shine.

  • But also, she cheated on Steve. Which I hate.

  • Sara Ramirez continues to crush it.

  • I appreciate that this episode centers around the three original gals. I love the new additions to the cast and want to see more of them in the rest of the series, but the show had tipped too far in the early episodes in the direction of making the LTW, Seema, Nya, and Che need to be included in every storyline, even when it wasn’t natural/when the storyline had to be centered around the original 3’s relationship to the new cast members. To me, it felt contrived and like an over-correction to the lack of diversity in the original series’ canon. This episode felt natural, easy, and like a real old-school SATC; the newer characters were included seamlessly and naturally, in ways that made sense and moved the story. Chef’s kiss!

  • That we’re five in also makes me acutely aware of the fact that there are only 5 more episodes, and it just now feels like the show has gotten its sea legs. Killing off Big was necessary to get the girls back to their truest form, but that plot choice sucked up three four episodes and I feel a little resentful of it.

  • Samantha returning via text message continues to be a Choice. Anyone who knows me knows I am vehemently ride or die for SJP, and yet I can’t help but wonder (wink!) how Kim Cattrall feels about all this. She shit the bed, she caused the problem, and yet…it is her character. That’s got to be hard.

  • Goodbye, alcohol. Hello, Miranda.

  • COME ON LEGS, back in heels!!!! That dress, that hair, in the final shot in her closet? Goosebumps.