five for friday, volume 1

I made a new friend this week. I mean, sorta. We’re both writing daily this month, despite #write31days not really being a thing anymore. She stumbled upon someone else who did “Monday Five” and then she tweaked it to be “Wednesday Five” and I thought, “well, that seems like a fun and easy post to do once a week,” so I modified again. Now let me introduce you to…

Five for Friday.

Five categories every week, at least for the month. Maybe longer if I’m liking it.

Kid Quote:

Me: Lilly, you’re yummy. Can I eat you?

L: No. Because that would be gross. And then I’d be in your tummy and you would cry and that would be scary and you’d be in the bath.

(Pretty sure she was pulling the crying and the bath from the photos Sarah Lewis took for me when she was born.)

Book:

Tattoos on the Heart by Father Gregory Boyle

Stories from a Jesuit priest who’s given his life to working in the LA projects with gangs. I laughed and cried, sometimes in the same paragraph. Five out of five stars.

Recommendation:

Hands down, the podcast Pantsuit Politics and their book I Think You’re Wrong, but I’m Listening. Sarah and Beth have very different political leanings, but they manage to break down world events in a grace-filled way. On Instagram stories, they give a daily news brief that’s been helpful for me, especially right now as there’s all kinds of impeachment chatter happening and both sides have their talking points and it’s madness.

Moment of Happiness:

We drove down to Anchorage (six hours south) this last weekend. We went to the zoo with one friend and her kids in the morning, and another friend joined us at the hotel pool with her four kids.

After the zoo, my friend Deb and her twins joined us at IHOP for lunch and her girls and mine played happily together. I just stared at them in wonder—I would not have guessed back when I was an annoying 20-year-old counting pills for Deb the Pharmacist that one day, lifetimes later, we would be friends and our kids would be playing together. Amazing.

A Little Nature:

Most of the leaves in Fairbanks have dropped, but after six hours in a crew cab with five other people, we pulled into the hotel parking lot and this greeted me:

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So there it is. Five for Friday.

What do you think? Fun? Meh? Want to join me? Chances are really good that you came here through social media… You could join me there if blogging’s not your thing.

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This post is part of my series, 31 days of speaking the truth. You can find the whole list of them here on the first post of the series.