Love in The Times of Contagion

Hey My Loves!

Again, I know it's been too long and for that I apologize. I wish I had a decent reason for being gone so long, but I do not. If I were to write you guys, every time I think of you, we'd have a million stories and words. I'm going to do much better at dropping by more often.

Right before Felix was born I decided I was going to start this blog and make it like letters that my Momo used to write me - full of love and fun things while also passing along little things that she knew were important. In the twelve or thirteen years that have passed since Felix arrived, I've changed format and my mind and top-secret spy locations a whole bunch of times - now you guys are pretty much all grown up and capable of understanding more complicated things and sentences and whatnot. So, I'm just going to keep doing this but make it more like a letter or a journal.

*Do you guys keep journals? If you don't, you might just love it. Get yourself a sweet empty book

with pages you love to touch. Find pens that fit your hand and have ink in colors you like. Tell yourself that every day you are going to write something. Anything, really. From what I've seen - you're very smart and you write well. Journalilng (I think that's what they call it) is a kinda cool way to do a whole bunch of things. Not the least of which is ....

one  Learn how to write well. Write your name, write your address, write numbers and letters and symbols in ways that show your style or attention to detail. Writing is a blast. When you have just the right ink, on just the right paper - it's like beautiful power. You can do or say or create anything you want and nobody is the boss of you but you.

I hope this little spot of staying home is at least a little fun for all of you. I also very much hope it's only a little spot and not some kinda long-term plan, because I'm just not really loving it so much. I do have to wonder though - what DO you guys do at school that makes it last all day long. I'm getting to help teach and herd a couple most-excellent teenagers, a little here and there, and we pretty much have all the actual school work done by noonish.

What's it like at your house? Are you missing all your buddies at school? I miss my friends so bad it hurts sometimes, but I think I'm getting better at being happy doing nothing, all by myself.

two  Learn how to enjoy your own company. Learn how to sit still. I could make each one of these things their very own books (like the bazillions of writers before me have done) but for me, they are so closely related, that I think you need to learn both at the same time. I also think that when I say "sit still" I really might mean, learn how to do nothing and be happy. What with the whole world screeching to a halt, I've found that I really do have time to not be doing something. I'm still not very good at it, but I think when you get to be an adult and you have to pay bills and whatnot, you forget how to stare at clouds or chase frogs... basically - do nothing. I really hope you don't forget how to be happy all by yourself, doing nothing.

three Get a job. Yea, I know you're still a kid, but I was on payroll when I was 8 or 9... your

mom or dad was too. It's a great way to make your own money to buy your own cool stuff. Just 'cuz all your friends don't have jobs means you have to be unemployed, too. Just put down these screens and go offer to mow the lawn or clean an entire bathroom; Ask where the cleaners and rags are. I'll bet you dollars to donuts, your parent will smile and ask if you want PayPal or Venmo or what. All y'all are going to be looking at dorm rooms or apartments within the next handful of years and you're going to want the nice stuff that you've grown accostomed to. Chop chop, buttercup. 

That's all I got besides don't ever give up hope. 

I started this note to you at the end of March.

It took me THIS long to remember that we got this. 

Protest where you can, smash the patriarchy

&

Don't touch your face.

xomomo

Laptops, pajamas and moments

pierwszy If you have a laptop that is being more than just a little warm to the touch, on the bottom - it's time to invest in some good Blue Ice packs. I would love to imagine a world where laptops don't overheat, but I don't see it on the immediate horizon. So, learn how to cool it down and not jack-up your laptop. Wrap some blue ice in a bandana or something, and place it under the machine where it feels the hottest. Those little fans, so far - for me, have been over-priced junk. But, again, maybe there in the future you guys have worked out the kinks. If not: Cool it down and keep it dry. Move it often and work by a good window fan.

drugi People don't really wear their pajamas out in public. I know you may have seen some people do it, but for real, baby. If you've got the energy to leave the house, you've got the energy to put on some clothes. I'd rather not see you in your PJs, out of your house, unless you are fleeing some kind of life-threatening disaster. When you are still a kid it's okay to wear them to the drive-in with your parents, but that's about it.

trzeci Squeeze the life out of every single moment. We are all only given so many of them and they are crazy-fragile. Seriously. Some are gonna rock, some are gonna rock less - but, be all up in it as much as you can. You never know when one of those magic moments is going to happen - it'd sure be a shame to miss it. We only get so many, y'know?

Engage. Be engaged. Be engaging. Ask questions.

copyright 2010 moemasters

Three for Thursday

ensimmäinen  Seize the moment. Carpe Diem, for absolute real. Be in the moment that you are in because you are obviously in it and that can't be undone. So, you might as well enjoy it. It really is delicious and will never happen again, no matter how much you wish it would. Learn to love every minute for the gift that it is.

другі IF a person older than you walks in the room, and you're sitting in the only available chair: Get up. Don't make them ask. It's a sign of respect and it'll make you look cool.

第三 Even if you don't want to, you are going to have to learn to eat green stuff. Eat lots of other colors of food too, but just eat lots of green. Just about anything green will do  - Green, fresh and local if you can get it. Consider this your first installment of the "I Will Too Tell You What To Eat" series.

I wouldn't mention it if I didn't really think it mattered.

copyright thesethreethings 2010