Hey y’all!
Because it’s the holiday week I’m going to go a bit light on these posts. I figured this would be a good time to introduce my semi-regular/not at all regular weekly updates! These will usually be on a day other than Tuesday and Thursday and will be just a quick rundown of how my week went and some things I’m thinking about.
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Ok, this week.
Back From Vacation: We got back from our 5 day anniversary trip to Palm Springs the Sunday before last. I feel like we got back just in time, COVID-wise, as now I don’t even want to go to the grocery store lest the Omicron get me, let alone sit on a plane with strangers for a few hours. The vacation was perfect and wonderful. We rented a house with a pool and basically just spent the days in the sun and the warm water. We brought the kids with us and it was so wonderful to see them acting like kids again. These last two years have taken so much out of them. They were swimming around in these giant floaties and seeing them so happy gave me the calm I needed to be able to focus on my partner and really enjoy our anniversary. It may seem weird to bring your kids on an anniversary trip, but I know my anxiety right now in this pandemic and honestly, if they weren’t with us I would have spent the entire time worrying about them. My partner and I still have our post-vacation love glow going on, even if it already feels like we’ve been back in the cold, dark rain for a BILLION YEARS instead of just a little over a week. We’re so fortunate to have been able to get this time away.
Christmas Contingency Plans: Even though our entire Seattle family is fully vaccinated (and like 70% boosted) we’ve decided to cancel our big family Christmas because we live in an Omicron hotspot right now and we just don’t want to risk it. We are going to just drop off gifts for the kids and cookies for everyone else and give everyone a quick masked hello. Then we’ll celebrate with our own individual households (my older son who lives across the street will also be joining us because he basically still lives here but he’ll take a rapid test first). I’m sad for my sons because they really love when the whole family gets together and they’ve gotten so little of that time these last two years, but I’m trying to think of ways to fill the whole day with fun for our little family unit. And as sad as it is to be back in this scary space, I am very glad to not have to cook for fifteen people.
Life Contingency Plans: I’ve been trying to think about how we’re going to get through this Omicron wave. Not like, how will we not get COVID - I feel like we know what to do to try to reduce the risk at this point - but how will we emotionally get through this. The truth is, I don’t think we have it in us to lock down the same way we did before. That sort of isolation was a thing that we could have done, and did do, for over a year. But none of us thought that this is where we’d be two years in. It’s not sustainable. We need connection and community and zoom isn’t covering it. But because we love our community we still need to be safe. This is what we’ve worked out so far: We have a few rapid tests that we bought when the younger kiddo started school and we’ll use these for occasional visits with vaccinated friends (I really hope rapid tests become more available soon - and more affordable!). We’ve re-instituted family game night with the boys to give them some social time and connection they can depend on. My partner and I are bringing back the date nights (where we usually just get takeout and drive around) that got us through some of the darkest COVID times that we had let slack once we felt a little more comfortable being more social. I’m re-reading my favorite mystery series (the Inspector Gamache series if you’re interested although warning - the author seems very afraid that she might become fat one day and it shows in the writing, so if you can cringe through all that it’s a really excellent series). That’s all I’ve been able to come up with so far.
I said a few weeks ago that I’d kind of gone numb to Omicron, like I’d reached my stress limit for the time being and just couldn’t panic anymore. That feeling has definitely passed, y’all and I’m a fucking mess about it. I think I’m just grieving how quickly our little window of sunlight passed this time around. This planning for our emotional health is all I can think to do, because I feel like with a variant this contagious, little else is under my control. What are y’all doing to get through this all emotionally?
Murder Mysteries: Because my anxiety has been on 11, I’m back on my British murder mystery bullshit y’all. Nothing soothes the soul like hours and hours of white-on-white crime. I’m rewatching Foyle’s War right now because it’s been a good five years since I last watched it. It’s a really good one and it’s helping right now because, as a murder mystery series set in England during WWII, it’s a good reminder that being a human being has always been really fucking brutal and that we’ll still murder people over dumb shit in the middle of a worldwide disaster but also still like fall in love and have babies and shit which means that we’re still pretty much experiencing what people have always experienced and we’re still here. What murder mysteries do you think I should watch next? They must be British (or like, Australian or something since I can’t tell accents apart so it all works) - American murder is so gauche. I've watched most of the greats: Vera, Poirot, Luther, Ms. Fisher, etc… but if you know of any obscure ones I might have missed, hook a girl up! I prefer to avoid romance in my mysteries whenever possible because kissing is way more gross than murder.
Facebook Memories: This popped up in my facebook memories today from December 21, 2016 and I thought I’d share it with y’all in case you needed a smile:
“Had a dream that my boss was Bill Nye and I spent the entire dream trying to tell him that I was in love with him, but I had a headache. He looked at me lovingly and said:
“You have bacterial meningitis. I know, I’m a science guy. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Hope y’all are hanging in there in these times and finding moments of joy where you can.
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Broadchurch is pretty solid for murder mysteries, stunning setting plus = Olivia Colman <3 Prime Suspect is great quality 90's crime grit (Helen Mirren!) and I'm going to watch The Bletchley Circle over the holidays, which everyone I trust raves about :)
Read Tana French if you haven't yet.......complicated wonderful character development, each book in the Dublin Murder Squad series written from a different point of view, different main character, different plot, etc.......she's great!