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Day One
My sister gave me a T-shirt for my birthday in August that read: In August. As in, the summer. That’s how bad 2020 was. I wanted that year of my life to end also, but it seemed like a lot of pressure to put on 2021. “Does The Universe know that it is a new year and that we pin a lot of meaning to that change of numerics? Does it care?” I was, of course, looking for an end to the shit show that was 2020. But I didn’t want to put my one fragile egg in that basket. Before long (but also years later, 2020 was weird that…
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Proof of Life
I had better luck today! I didn’t get as close as I would have liked because I didn’t want to scare him into the basement again. I feel confident that it is my same old owl because he has the same asymmetrical left “ear” tuft. It’s weird, but it really hurt my feelings when he hid from me the other day. It was a flashback to those early tween years when you realize that life isn’t like the movies; your crush doesn’t always (or ever) crush back. That’s the “crushing” part. I guess that’s why I love dogs so much.
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Mammalian Chameleon
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What Would Myra Do?
So, I chose the wrong time to start The Handmaid’s Tale. Jesus. I wanted to hide from my phone. I knew that Brett Kavanaugh was going to be confirmed over the weekend, and I wanted to think about other things. I stayed in, I knitted, and I watched episodes of Handmaid. I emerged from my basement on Monday morning unsure of what year it was. Where am I, again? The black and white past? The red and white future? Oh, no. It’s just the dystopian present. Goddamn. I can’t stop thinking about the episode where all the women are sent home from work because a law has been passed making…
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None Shall Pass… Without Cake!
When I asked Ethan what he wanted his 6th birthday party theme to be and he said “knights,” I had to double check that I understood. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he responded, “Nocturnal.” “Knights? Like, Knights of the Round Table?” I asked, knowing there was a better way to phrase this to a kindergartner. “No,” Ethan said. “Like knights that fight.” “Okay,” I said. “I got it.” I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to find good decorations easily. At least, not as easily as if he said, “Starwars,” for instance. But it…
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Auntie Fail
Auntie Rae tries to talk to the kiddos about bullies: Me: So she bullied me from second grade through the sixth grade, and it was terrible. And I didn’t handle it well but I learned from it. And then, the last I heard, she was a single mom, working at the American Fork Walmart. The end. My Nephew (9 years old): I don’t understand. How can you be single and a mom? Me: um…. what? I don’t think I said that. Time for bed!
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Ask an Atheist
Last Thursday (April 18th) was “National Ask an Atheist Day.” I did not know that was a thing until I ended up getting sucked into a Facebook conversation started by an atheist friend of mine who was soliciting questions. Most of the questions were some version of “how can you prove that there is no god?” I was reminded that the way most people define atheism is wildly different than the way that I define it. I know that language evolves and words come to stand for something far beyond their original definitions. That is a natural phenomenon of language. But the words “atheist” and “agnostic” do have simple meanings,…
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Precision Cooking
My man is making dinner. Me: Why is there dough on the tape measure? Matt: The recipe says the biscuits should be 1/4 inch thick and 2 1/2 inches across.
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Latter Day Saints and Sinners
I allowed myself to be drawn into another family’s facebook fight last week. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t help myself. And anyway it has been so long – I think I just needed to be reminded that you aren’t going to change anyone’s opinion. Not on the topic of homosexuality. And not on facebook. A little background… When I was a kid, my Mormon bishop was unequivocal about homosexuality. It was a choice, and it was a bad choice. This was the message I got from everyone in my community. But in the last few years, I have noticed a distinct evolution in the way…