The high of my week was a socially distanced gathering with my friends in the park. There were four of us and we brought our own blankets and food to enjoy. The weather wasn’t too miserable since we met around 6:45 in the evening and were under a big shady tree. It was so nice to have a nice evening chit-chatting with my friends and catching up on everyone’s lives. (Of course, we spent most of the time talking about COVID, but it’s the thing permeating so much of our lives!) I definitely need more of that in my life!
The low of my week was reading the news about another Black man being shot by police. I am so angry and I feel so helpless. But until justice is served to these police officers who murder Black people, we are only going to keep hearing these stories and keep feeling angry and helpless. (And don’t even get me started on the 17-year-old white man who was walking around with a goddamn machine gun around the police and nothing happened to him—he was instead allowed to fire his gun into a crowd of protesters, allegedly killing two and seriously injuring another. WTF.) Here are ways to help and demand justice.
An Internet find I’d like to share is this heartwarming, funny video of a zookeeper trying to rake up leaves while her panda charges keep causing destruction. I’ve watched it multiple times this week, whenever I need a pick-me-up. Baby pandas are like toddlers!
A podcast episode I enjoyed was “It’s Joe Time” by Pod Save America. All four hosts joined to break down the Democratic National Convention and reflect on the speeches. I didn’t watch the DNC (it started at 9pm for us on the East Coast and that is way too late for this grandma) but I really want to go back and watch all the speeches, especially from the Obamas, Kamala, Dr. Biden, and Joe Biden. This was a good crash course on the event and made me feel hopeful for November. (I have to have hope. It’s the only way I’m going to survive these next few months.
The best money I spent was $400 on a new dining room table! This was an expense, for sure, but it’s one I’ve known I needed to make for my new place. My current apartment doesn’t have any sort of dining area and I am soooo excited to finally have one again! It’s been far too long without a dining room table. It won’t be delivered until early October (late September if I’m lucky) but I’ve gone this long without a table—what’s a few more weeks?
My plans this weekend include not too much! I have my usual Saturday morning writing date planned and have tentative plans with a friend for a socially distanced reading date. We haven’t had a reading date since January, so we are much overdue! And hopefully, I can fit in some pool time!
What was the high of your week?
That gathering sounds great! Connecting with people who are outside of my circle face-to-face feels like such a treat right now!
What’s going on in Kenosha (that’s the town in WI I do all my shopping in, go to the dentist, etc) absolutely sickens me. I didn’t believe it could get worse until that 17 yo from Antioch, IL decided he needed to go up and assist. Our country is such a mess. 🙁 They say Blake is going to be paralyzed from his seven gunshots. 🙁
I watched that panda video this week too and it it made me legit LOL! I’m grateful for funny videos like that, especially right now.
Do you think you will start using the table as soon as it arrives? We only use ours when we have guests! When I eat alone I eat at the bar! I like eating NOT in front of the TV though (that is where Steven and I always eat, except for when we have guests)
The high of my week is taking a half day today to go see a friend near Madison 🙂
I had a similar gathering with my book club on Wednesday night! We’ve met at a park for the last 2 months and it’s been great to see everyone as zoom is just not the same. One of the girls brought GF pb cookies that were sooo good. Full confession – I had a DQ blizzard for dinner. Ha! Very adult of me, right? I did eat healthy earlier in the day to make up for it. But it was 90 and humid at 6:30 so ice cream was the only thing that sounded good!
I’m so saddened by this week’s shooting. The comparison to Tamir Rice really drives home the point that we have a race problem. A little boy with a fake gun is killed in a playground but a 17yo white male can walk around with an assault riffle????
Jeez, Stephany, you are asking the TOUGH questions this week. The high of the week… um… getting to spend four hours by myself this morning? Of course, those hours included a grocery store trip, a Costco trip, sitting in line at the gas station and at the bank, and dashing into and out of both the bank and the UPS store so… not really a FUN four hours of alone time. And yet still the highlight????? I MISS THE TIME BEFORE.
Love that you got to spend some time with friends! I had my first book club meeting last night since COVID, and it was great. There are only 4 of us, so we felt very safe and comfortable.
I haven’t seen people in ages. I am just not comfortable yet (but others don’t seem to be comfortable either, because they haven’t reached out)… I am glad you got some socially distanced time with friends though.