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Planned Obsolescence
I took my kids to the playground on a weekday afternoon last week. I sat on the bench in the cold air hoping the sun would warm me up a little and had a realization: I am no longer needed here. This new phase of life has really snuck up on me. There were many…
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Odds & Ends
Did you know that nine- and eleven-year-old kids still expect to receive an Easter basket on Easter morning? This did not occur to me until recently. I get lulled into complacency by the fact that we’re done with indoor playgrounds and the constant supervision stage; I forget that some childhood embellishments last much longer than…
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For Better or For Worse
Does anyone else still read and love Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse? I’ve been reading For Better or For Worse since at least 1992. It was always one of my favorites, and I tended to relate most to the daughter Elizabeth, although she must be almost ten years older than me. She too…
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Lament of an Old Person
There was an article in the New York Times this weekend about how modern light bulbs are so energy efficient that we no longer have to turn the lights off when we leave a room. I read this article with a sense of dread building in my belly, and I knew by the time I…
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The only way to win… is not to care.
I play this stupid game on my phone called Gardenscapes. It’s one of those match three games except with a bunch of bells and whistles and opportunities to spend real money to buy in-game currency. I downloaded it in June 2020, and have been playing off-and-on ever since. I am on level 4,351. The whole…
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Lemonades (r)
A friend and her daughter stopped by yesterday afternoon to deliver three packages of Lemonades, the best Girl Scout cookie. “Oh, these are my favorite,” I said as I clutched the cookies to my chest. “These ones are going in my secret snack place.” My youngest son had been hiding around the corner in the…
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The radical messaging of Ted Lasso
Spoiler warning for Ted Lasso season one. Just stop here if you haven’t watched it yet. I watched the last episode of Ted Lasso season one today while doing my workout in the basement. Here is a list of all the scenes that brought tears to my eyes:1. Nate getting promoted2. Ted’s pre-game speech about…
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Pertinent to my Interests: Cemetery Iconography
I just finished reading Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism by Douglas Keister. Despite my deep appreciation for cemeteries–and my habit of dragging my grumpy kids through them–I didn’t know much about the symbolism on gravestones. If you had asked me a week ago to type out a list of everything I…
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22 years of mocking the Midwestern landscape
The first time I set foot in Minnesota was in February of 2002. Math tells me that this was 22 years ago, but my heart tells me it was about sixteen lifetimes ago. My mom and I flew into town for the weekend to visit colleges. We were staying with old church friends in Minneapolis…