Enduring

A week in which I was once again reminded:  of the crushing, recursive brutality of loving someone with a chronic illness; of the bitter disappointment when the sudden arrival of disaster follows a period of relative progress; of the amazing fortitude and grace necessary for endurance, unfair to expect from one so young.

In crisis, the world shrinks to the moment, slowly expanding to the hour, or maybe the day, as things improve. And yet, there is always a scrap of joy to be unearthed; there is always something for which to be grateful.

Ways I Found Joy This Week

Hosting girls’ movie night to honor Catherine O’Hara

Completing a brain-bending jigsaw puzzle gifted to me by the CWP

Accomplishing an onerous task at the DMV which completes a lengthy, daunting process that will ultimately save me thousands each year

Placing a few ceramic heart magnets strategically throughout my home

Stopping to chat with the Red Sox-adjacent snowbird I met last year when he was recovering from open heart surgery, and learning that he’s doing well

Lunching outdoors on a beautiful day with a cherished friend visiting from far away, then investigating a huge used bookstore together

Things I Learned This Week

The origin of the custom of saying “rabbit, rabbit” on the first of the month

About the Crooked Forest in Poland

About the Plain of Jars in Laos

That there’s a dumbo octopus that moves by flapping its ear fins

Quotes That Resonated This Week

He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.

Alexandre Dumas

There is a magnificent quiet that comes from giving up the regular order of your life.

Ann Patchett

What I Watched This Week

Dexter: Original Sin (Paramount +). Finished the binge, so I’ll be missing my favorite serial killer. The rumor that Resurrection will have another season including Bryan Cranston is making it all better.

Best in Show (Netflix). I’d forgotten how ridiculously funny this was. Watched for Catherine O’Hara, but everyone was fabulous.

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast (Netflix). Three women who have been friends forever are summoned twenty years later to the funeral of a friend who made up their foursome in high school. There’s a mystery to unravel, but the draw is the absolutely hilarious dialogue. From the makers of Derry Girls, which I also loved.

How America Killed My Mother (YouTube). A documentary revealing the reality of being poor and sick in America. A son examines how the system let his mother down and resulted in her (preventable) death from diabetes at 65.

Finding Vivian Maier (Philo). Fascinating in so many ways, not least of which are the discovery of the incredible photography of this woman (who worked as a nanny) after her death and the question of why she never shared her prolific and outstanding work.

What I Read This Week

Forget Me Not, by Stacy Willingham. A journalist returns to her hometown for the first time since her older sister disappeared twenty-two years earlier and secrets start to unravel.

Anatomy of an Alibi, by Ashley Elston. Two women in a small Louisiana town temporarily trade places. When the husband of one of them ends up murdered, they both need an alibi, but only one of them has one.

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Thanks for reading!