Category — Uncategorized

Along with For Better or For Worse, I was reminded recently — twice! — about PostSecret. Eight years ago, that site was a weekly visit, and by this week, I forgot that it existed until I read two pieces about it.

It’s twenty years old.

Twenty. Years. Old.

I never sent a secret, though I loved reading them weekly and checking out the PostSecret books from the library. Did you send one?

Many years ago, I started a tradition of spending half hour every Friday near lunchtime eating good chocolate and watching a television show. Right before the twins left for college, I decided to re-watch Ted Lasso. ChickieNob joined me for the final few Fridays before she moved, and then she left me to finish the rest of the episodes on my own.

When I was still in Season One, I couldn’t imagine how I would get through this year. How was I going to get from Friday to Friday? But that’s the thing about time; it keeps going. And suddenly, I was weeks away from picking them up for summer break.

I finished the series’ final episode an hour before we left to pack up their dorm rooms. I am so grateful that positive stories like that exist because this has been such a hard year — both the twins being away and world events — and to spend a half hour each Friday taking a break from this world to spend time in a fictional world was priceless.

I decided to re-watch One Day next. It only has 14 episodes, so I’ll finish it before the twins return to school and have time to start a new re-watch while they’re still here. But thank you, Ted Lasso, for keeping me company during a hard year.

I forgot that For Better or For Worse existed until a friend shared the comic of the day on Facebook. In September 2008, they started re-running the completed comic strip, occasionally adding new updates. But I didn’t even remember it existed until I saw the share and remembered how much I loved the strip when I was a kid.

Which is a little weird, right? Parents were clearly the target audience, but I remember diving for the newspaper to read it every day when I was in middle school. It reminded me of what I loved so much about Ramona Quimby, which depicted a normal (vs. idealized) family with their ups and downs.

But I wasn’t the target audience any more than I was the target audience for the television show Thirtysomething when I was twelve. But I loved that show, too. It’s not streaming anywhere, or I would rematch it to see if I still connect with the characters. Or now that I’m on the other side of thirty and once again not the target audience, will I be able to find whatever interested me when thirty was a number in my future vs. my past?

I went back to September 2008, and I’m slowly re-reading For Better or For Worse. I don’t remember most of the storylines, so it feels new. It’s nice to revisit old friends.

I read an interesting piece about how the increased sensitivity and inclusivity over Mother’s Day does just as much emotional damage as ye olde insensitive days; specifically, brands and advertising and social media.

They explain,

In the weeks leading up to May 14, I’ve received a slew of somber emails from brands acknowledging that this day might be hard for me and giving me the option to opt out of whatever offer they’re about to send me … Well-intended as it may be, “dead mom” marketing rubs me the wrong way, especially because it results in the exact thing the brand is claiming to help recipients avoid: an inbox full of emails that remind them of their dead mom (or estranged mom, or lost child).

Yeah, I can see that. But they really can’t win, can they? I would rather be asked because it shows the person understands we’re not all in the same boat. However, I see their point: offering the opt-out can also send unintended messages. What is your take?

Oh, Mother’s Day. You keep looping back around on the calendar. I said everything I feel about it last year, and, indeed, one is home, and the other is far away, deep in finals. Looking ahead, the same thing will happen next year, too. We will likely move one out of the dorms that Sunday, so at least I’ll see them. It is what it is.

It’s hard to have them far away on all other days of the year, and this one is no different.

It’s funny looking back at last year’s post because while I knew intellectually that it would be hard to separate, I don’t think I fully fathomed how it would feel to go through this year. And I certainly didn’t think about the breathing space afforded by summer breaks or how it would feel to set up the following year’s calendar and think about all the days between now and the next break.

I’m sending deep breaths to everyone, whether you celebrate or not, whether this day is filled with light or heavy feelings.