Ten Things I’ve Learned This Week
Instagram is not my favorite social network, but in this second month of sheltering at home, I find myself enjoying little glimpses into my friend’s days. This way, I miss them less. Mostly though, I realized that each week Bethany Winters shares a list of ten things she’s learned, they range from the mundane, “2. i have become a person who shops according to recipes i plan to make” to the informative, “6. california produces 88% of the nation’s strawberries, employing approximately 40k farm workers for this crop alone”, to the wholly insightful, “2. when shit is hard, it’s okay to feel lousy in order to process it – we don’t have to be positive in every moment”.
Bethany’s lists of ten offer comfort in these most discomforting of times. That there’s a lady across town willing to look inward makes the world feel a little more normal. A reminder that there are people in every house doing the same. Sometimes I’m learning when reading these short lists, sometimes inspired, but always I’m sated by just one post on Instagram that Bethany has provided each week for nearly a year.
ten things i’ve learned this week 4.16.20
1. i am a most extroverted introvert
2. alison roman’s spring onion recipe is simple and delicious
3. my @modulare.us mask is made from the most beautiful fabrics
4. the smallest things cause me to burst into tears; the delivery guy’s eyes smiling above his mask, and my strongest friend asking if we’ll ever be able to hug again
5. my kid has a friend whose username is ‘brisk giraffe’
6. when i was diagnosed with breast cancer, it took me a solid month to recognize that i may not die; it has been the same with this pandemic
7. i shower more, exercise more, cook more, and make my bed more in quarantine
8. my kids really miss being in school
9. i can’t wait for the circus of books documentary on the 22nd
10. today i hit a wall
With a nod to Bethany, I’ll add my own list right now, but with capital letters because I don’t know how to untrain my hands from histting the shift key.
Ten things I’ve learned this week 5.1.20
1. There is a pacifier tree in my neighborhood. It’s where pacifiers go when kids are ready to give them up.
2. The Joy of Cooking has a tamale pie recipe from my childhood. The kids loved it.
3. Driving from The Valley to the city almost made me cry yesterday. The San Fernando Valley has summer weather. West LA does not. I miss being warm.
4. I can grow fuchsia here. It makes the morning fog almost worth it.
5. I am unsurprisingly happy being home for extended periods.
6. I am unsurprisingly miserable cooped up for extended periods.
7. Free writing every morning is a dreadful experience that yields prolific results.
8. My library card is valuable. The free classes available on lapl.org are terrific (including the writing class which I’m taking)
9. Not hugging my mother and stepfather is physically painful.
10. Our kids are profoundly intuitive.