Inspired by artist Lisa Congdon, who has adopted “hold it lightly” as a practice in her life. You can have the {goal, ambition, dream, list} but you aren’t clinging to it, not trapping it. It’s a way to feel more flexible, more relaxed. I’m trying it.
R & R
Hope everyone gets what they need this weekend.
Marathon for Every Mother Counts
This year is a milestone birthday for me. So when Every Mother Counts asked for team members to join Team EMC at the Chicago Marathon, I decided this was my year. I’m a longtime supporter of Every Mother Counts, an organization dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. And I’m thrilled to be supporting them through running my first ever marathon.
Please help me reach my fundraising goal if you are able. Donations go toward Black and Indigenous community-based organizations in the U.S. and abroad to eliminate racial disparities in maternal health, as well as to help fund original, accessible content, tools, and resources for people to share and raise awareness in their own communities.
Please donate if you can.
Looking for myself
Last night I had the pleasure of attending an event for You Could Make This Place Beautiful, the newest book by Maggie Smith. Maggie is a poet, and this memoir is the most poetic prose. The epigraph is the quote below by Emily Dickinson. And it very much sets the stage for her writing - both the story and the framework.
My Goodreads review for the book reads: “Raw. Beautiful. Like the quartz stone she rolls around in her hand rubbing with her thumb, this memoir takes a series of moments and rolls them around different metaphors and frameworks. A very engaging structure of vignettes and poems and snippets of thought. Though unabashedly (actually almost belligerently) an incomplete story. Clearly prose written by a poet.”
At last night’s event, Maggie was interviewed by my favorite local author, Megan Stielstra. Megan is a master writer, editor, educator, so hearing her thoughts on the book and its construction was enlightening. I was also able to reintroduce myself to her, as my book club once invited her out to drink and talk books with us - it was unforgettable!
Quote by Emily Dickinson
Myself, Maggie Smith, and my best friend since childhood, Abby, who is the best partner for all literary events.
Selfie with Megan Stielstra.
Advice
Just a little advice…
Grief
Opening door, closing door
On New Year’s Eve a friend hosted a “vision boarding” party where we all gathered casually with wine and appetizers and magazines and scissors. We snipped what we thought was inspirational or reflective of the coming year, proverbially speaking it to the universe by gluing it to posterboard. The Kazoo magazines turned out to have some incredible graphics, including one of a check box next to the phrases opening door and closing door. It immediately caught my attention as the metaphor I’d like for my 2023. In a place of prominence on my posterboard visual manifesto, I appreciate how it stands for being willing to step into new areas while thoughtfully moving away from places that are no longer serving me. It allows me to add and to leave, to be aware of and open to both sides of the opportunities. May 2023 be full of opportunities.
2022 Reading
Looking back through my reading year is a great exercise to see what truly made an impact. What do I remember; what do I still think about; what have I recommended to others?
There were several greats this year. Mostly hardback books, with a couple aged paperbacks, and a few Kindle reads that were mostly reserved for times in transit. I read a lot with my 11-year-old, many that I’d not read prior. I appreciated having a range - fiction and non, professional and personal, recommended to me and randomly found.
I’m always happy to share books with others, and find delighted in creating a recommended reading list each year. Past years can be found here: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018
Now to jump into the stack on my nightstand!
Tis the Season
I love traditions when they help create or reinforce community. One of my favorite traditions is holiday greetings in the mail. I especially like reminiscing about our year to find what might be worth mentioning in the couple paragraphs. Now that I have kiddos, I like thinking about how they’ve grown or matured over the year, and how to sum that up to our family and friends. And I like the connection that a holiday card can bring - a warm greeting to our elderly recipients, an affirmation of a new friendship, a welcome viewport into the lives of those we don’t get to chat with enough.
This year I went with a more traditional 4x6 card, with images on the front and our message on the back. We were fortunate to have some professional photos from a charity event over the summer, that both featured heavily and created the color palette for the card.
Everything was created in Procreate on the ipad, which is my favorite app for lettering digitally. Neon envelopes were a fun find! And of course I used vintage stamps whenever possible.
I hope everyone who received one felt a bit of the cheer my family was sending. It was such a pleasure to receive so many this year.
Solstice 2022
Welcoming back the light!
Thanks and Giving
My favorite holiday seemed to arrive suddenly this year. Everything wasn’t quite as in-place as I usually like it, but still a great day full of good food and family and gratitude.
This past year we added a table to our living room for the express purpose of being able to eat Thanksgiving not in our tiny kitchen. It was great! (We also use the table for puzzles, homework, games, art projects, etc.)
Everyone who eats fills out a list - and reads aloud - what they are thankful for. It becomes part of my Thanksgiving timecapsules.
I am a huge pie fan, but my littlest prefers cake. So this year I made a chocolate pumpkin cake, and we all agreed it was pretty terrific.
Each year for the past three years, while I’m cooking the kiddos set up Legos to create their own Thanksgiving Day parade, complete with mylar balloon characters. Full video available on Instagram.
And, we always try to get out into nature on Thanksgiving, to be grateful for the natural world. On this hike, the kiddos found an amazing log fort.
As always, we also use this day to remember those who were here first. We made donations to Dig Deep which is helping provide running water to the 30% of Navajo homes that don’t have it, and to the National Urban Indian Family Coalition who are supporting the 70% of American Indians and Alaskan Natives who live in urban centers, like Chicago.
Happy Thanksgiving, all. So much to be grateful for.
Doing Your Best
Don't compare yesterday to today, or today tomorrow. I have to keep reminding myself of that.
Affirmation from We The Urban, who is full of celebration for self-love, inclusivity, and marginalized voices.