Party like it's the weekend...because it practically is

Friday. Fri-yay. Feeling good.

Thanks to those of you who reached out to me to make sure I am ok (spoiler alert: I am!) after reading last week’s Thursday Thoughts (which essentially were about me choking on the lemonade I was being forced to make as life seemingly handed me lemons faster than I could squeeze them). I wasn’t trying to be obtuse or evasive as it may have seemed, and I apologize for that—the details are immaterial and it’s “simply” a time of life where the ebbs and flows seem to come a bit faster, more aggressively, and with a bit of an undertow approaching the power a rip current rather than pleasant, ripple-y, soothing, undulating waves. I’m pretty sure everyone can relate to going through a period of time when the layers seem to pile on and things start to feel heavy and look dark…but at the same time you know that the storm will pass. Even knowing (hoping) it will all work out in the end, one needs to process those times to move through them…last week you saw me processing that kind of time. Bottom line is this: it’s all good…though I am extra-grateful for those folks who did a wellness check on me. I feel the love. 🥰

Here’s a roundup of some other things that have me feeling good since I last wrote:

St. Patrick’s Day. Thanks to ancestry.com I know I’m more Irish than I ever was led to believe and so I’m making up for lost time. The morning of March 17th found me in Concourse T at the Atlanta airport, and it really is the concourse that time forgot—all of the other concourses I visited (trying unsuccessfully to catch an earlier flight standby) resembled mega-malls, and “my“ concourse (T) was straight out of the 1980s. I found myself searching almost desperately (it was hot as balls and time was tight-ish) for a Guinness (St. Paddy’s Day breakfast of champions), which I ultimately did, at a TGIFriday’s (very much straight out of the 80s 🤦🏼‍♀️). I had no idea that chain was still in business but it actually was a fitting stop because truth told at that point I would have thanked anyone it was Friday—so there was that. But anyway…Jungle Boogie was playing at live-concert volume when a giant dude in a kilt walked in, slammed a Bloody Mary, and chased it with a Bud bottle that he drank in one sip. It happened so fast that when he told the bartender she served him an empty bottle she believed him and immediately moved to hand him a new one. Turns out his name was Sully and he was shipping up to Boston to hit the Irish Social Club, the very place I was scheduled to head to once I got home. (Sadly, if he ever showed, it was after I had come and gone.) Then there were our awesome neighbors who delivered us a fantastic loaf of homemade Irish brown bread…they do this every year but this year it was especially good. We enjoyed it with our Guinness Beef Stew and followed that up with Guinness Chocolate Cake for dessert.

The bread and the stew. Both so good.

It’s supposed to look like a frothy pint of Guinness…it kind of does.

Next-generation friends. You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again…and you’ll also hear it right now. As tired (though also very happy!) as I was when I got home Friday afternoon I was excited to hit the Irish Social Club and to catch up with some of Kerri’s hockey friends and enjoy some Irish music and general merriment…but I was especially excited we’d be joined by the son of one of my besties who was in the area to catch a morning flight Saturday and is using our house as a temporary home base. It was so fun (for us more so than for him I imagine) to have him along, and I was happy to be part of a milestone event: his first Guinness. (Yes he is old enough to drink.) He passed through again last night in between his Spring Break Parts One and Deux, though check in was late and his Uber back to Logan this morning came early, so we only saw him in the Blink footage. 😂😂😂. Young people bounce differently…there’s something about their perspective and optimism and energy. Gives me hope and makes me feel slightly less old.

All my other (whatever generation you’re from) friends. I have some real gems sparkling pretty bright in my life. Whether I see you all the time in person or whether the time between our visits has grown embarrassingly long, you are always shining in my personal universe in some way, and I see you, always. My life is forever bedazzled by each of you. I’ve been making an effort to get some social time on the books and look forward to the plans I’ve made (like the lunch I have today and the dinner we have next Thursday), but feel free to set something up if you think we’re overdue.

10 pounds of cozy fabric. For years I’ve enjoyed climbing under a 15-pound weighted blanked for sleep, but the 10-pond fluffy version I recently picked up for downstairs hs has been a real game-changer for my couch time. Especially when I pull it up over my shoulders. (Sigh.) Weighted blankets: IYKYK. (And if you don’t know but happen to have a skittish dog, well, think thundershirt, only for anxious, angsty people.) You can see on the graph below what happened to my heart rate yesterday afternoon when I climbed under it for some restorative time. Looks like it works.

Don’t confuse my heart rate graph with the flight path of Malaysian Air Flight 370.

Networking. I hate networking as a rule. Too much chaff, not enough wheat. All windup, no pitch. So why is it on a list of things I feel good about? Because this week I’ve had some networking exchanges that actually were enjoyable despite not being fruitful (at least not yet). I guess it’s true that you have to kiss a lot of frogs…regardless of what is to come, I’m buoyed by these interactions and the timing was perfect. They provided a bit of a lifeline given the aforementioned undertow approaching a rip current I’d been floundering in.

(Relatively good) health. Despite the two true facts that 1) I have a body that is being decidedly out-metabolized by menopause and 2) when I got home from the gym on Wednesday I had to lie on the living room floor with a lacrosse ball in the knot in the back of my shoulder and an icepack to address the dull ache on the front side of it, I’m grateful that I have the mental fortitude and physical stamina to persevere in this footrace against Father Time (aka Life), as I work hard to create as much distance as I can between the two of us for as long as possible. What else can I do? (Also, I am committed to my preventive care on an ongoing basis, which also helps…and that’s a commitment we all should make, an investment with incalculable return. Get your -scannable parts scanned, your -grammable parts grammed and your -scopable parts scoped.)

March Madness. I love March Madness and this year has provided no shortage of close games, upsets, and complete bracket busters. (FDU. Princeton. Furman.) I didn’t do a bracket of my own and I only made it through the round of 64 in my survivor pool (thanks for nothing, Duke) but still it’s been a fun watch; plus Kerri is still alive in the survivor pool so I have something to root for. 3 of the 4 games yesterday were fantastic for us spectators with no skin in the game. First, was the MSU-Kansas State nail biter. I was pulling for the Spartans—tough year for them on campus. (How about some gun control, people???) Anyway, they hung in there to force OT but then they just didn’t have enough in the tank. Plus that Marquis Nowell was an assist machine—he was so goo he maybe even coulda set me up for a bucket. Then you had one of the Cinderella teams (#9 seed) come out of halftime en 🔥🔥🔥, ready to prove something to the doubting evil stepsisters. It instilled the same fear in TN that TN did in Duke last round, and with the same outcome—had them chucking up bricks for desperation 3s way too early the game with a virtually non-existent rebounding game, enabling the Owls to gradually widen their lead. The Gonzaga-UCLA game was a real barnburner too, with UCLA almost pulling it off at the end. I couldn’t turn away from it…which is why I’m a little on the tired side today—late finish. Even so, I can’t wait for today’s eight games. Women start at 2:30. Gotta flip and rotate the couch cushions frequently this weekend.

Extra daylight. Now that I’m over the DST jet lag I’m filled with joy over the fact that the added sunshine gives our days an added boost. Admittedly some days it’s an adjustment waiting a bit longer for it to get dark so I can get into pajamas, but when summer rolls around and the pool is open and the playlists are cranking, well, I know I’ll take advantage of that extra hour dozens of times.

Anyhow, I hope this morning finds you with plenty to feel good about, though I know sometimes it’s like finding a needle in a haystack, finding the good stuff. If that’s the case, I feel for you and I am here for you.

Thanks to you for being here with and for me. It truly means the world. Have a great weekend.

Love you too.

Also…I’ve had some inquiries…so if you’re wondering what’s up with “love you too,” wonder no more:

Love you too