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

The Root of Three Things

one Moderation might just be the key to living a meaningful life. I am all-in for testing limits and almost getting arrested or nearly getting married, but I would hope that this fundamental piece of advice is way more meaningful than a key to The Estate where you can always seek refuge and store your boxes of high school art. For sure do the things that keep you contemporary. Occupy and consume and own and storm and drop and puff.puff.pass while you do ping-pong shots across from people who make your blood run hot. Do all of that just enough to know all the rules you are choosing to break.

two Tell The Truth and surround yourself with truth-tellers or be willing to age extra-super-duper turbo-fast and probably get cancer, often. This has not been scientifically proven to be The Specific cause of cancer, but I have my suspicions. It's an insidious slippery slope that starts with things like "I din't fart/burp or Everything is fine" and digresses with age and loss of bliss to things like "No.really You look great in those jeans and I understand why you hit me and... "  I know you and your delicate Spidey Senses and I know that you know when it feels wrong. Do not ever yield to the will of nefarious six-fingered bastards. Always ask yourself: "Would my Momo treat me this way?" 

three Be Patient with yourself and your expectations and expeditions. You are not really the boss of you in every single instance. There is a way to stay true to your wants and tend to your needs. Nobody but you knows, really, what you need and I know you are smart and clever and brave enough to make everything that matters happen. All of it. You got this if you just stay true and move slowly with patience, like a ninja. I love you and the way you get what you need.

© 2015 moemasters thesethreethings 

Tuquoise colored island economics

першы You don't have to know how to do everything. You should, however, surround yourself with people who have skills you don't have. It would be helpful if everybody on your little island did not agree on every single thing, as well. It makes for a fatter and richer pool of ideas from which to draw. Build a life that is full to the brim with differences. Always keep a good geek, a good cook and try to have scare up an empath from somewhere.

другі If wearing the color turquoise makes your eyes more blue: Wear the color turquoise. Learn what colors look good on you and which ones don't. Very few humans can pull off bright orange, just so you know. And, an all black wardrobe does not the happy closet make. Wear some color, for Pete's sake!

трэці Learn about finance. All kinds of finance. I totally slept through this class (that was just a euphemism, I never even got the chance to take a course in Finance or Economics.) That being said: I really hope you do. You need to understand not only your own personal economy, but the gigantic great big economy that impacts your life, as well. You also need to learn how to balance a checkbook and not spend money that you don't have.

copyright 2010 moemasters