Hello, friends and family. Let’s March together into Issue 21…
If I really understood what it felt like to be Ukrainian, I would not be writing this week’s newsletter.
Or maybe I would be writing about how scared I was, processing and connecting with others like me, and educating those who can’t possibly imagine (read: Americans like the real me).
I’m safe and grateful.
Can I say that without sounding, well, American?
Where I live, in the Bay Area, we contend with fires and earthquakes. On occasion, I wake in the night imagining what I’d do if I had to evacuate my home immediately. I’m a single mother with two kids (half-time) and two cats (full-time). How would I wrangle them all to safety?* The thought terrifies me.
Now, put me in Ukraine—petrified, angry, and words I can’t begin to possibly imagine from where I stand, safe, 6,277 miles away. 💙 💛
By the way, Romeo escaped without his collar last night. He stopped home briefly in the dark of the night, leaving a dismembered rat in my office.
Bill Not-Bored
I saw a billboard in Oakland with messaging that actually landed. This is rare.
If you can plan a birthday party, you can plan for a disaster.
I have a smidge of doomsday-prepper in me.
I don’t have a basement lined with canned tomatoes and toilet paper, but I have four jugs of water (for a cooler) that were accidentally delivered to my home without a name. I reckon the carbon footprint of returning them would be irresponsible, no? After looking left and right—I’m alone—I promptly placed them in my garage as part of my supply. Liquid gold!
I have art supplies, cat food, bandaids, old clothes, and protein bars stashed in the garage. My water and generator are my crowning supplies. As noted above, living along with kids and cats makes you think a tad bit harder about disasters.
PS: Will someone secure my bookcase to my wall? I pay in hugs.
Proof I’ve Backpacked (at least once)
My mom led backpacking trips in Yosemite when my brother and I were peanuts. She met my stepdad leading one such trip in the early 80s.
Their 40-year romance blended us into a family of six, which I diagramed in a previous newsletter (mom with two kids marries man with two kids).
When I was 9,* they took us on a backpacking adventure that totally sucked.
I backpacked 15 miles to Vogelsang Peak in Yosemite (altitude 10,300 feet) carrying a pack equal to my weight. Recently, my stepdad reminded me I was saddled with the sleeping bags. I told him my memory makes a better story.
We slept in tube tents, my mom got altitude sickness, and Mia sat in the hamburgers (or maybe that another trip). By the end, I shuffled like a poker dealer and played 20 Questions like a detective.
Like most things my mom and Michael did with us—grueling—I’m 10,300x better for it.
*I may have been 10, but the story is better if I’m 9.
Lady Baby’s Birthday
Miss Emma Frances Earnhardt turned 8 on Saturday. Sweet-pea. Dollface. Sister Baby.
My daughter enjoys crop tops, ripped jeans, and using markers in her hair. I do not subscribe to deconstructed denim on an 8-year-old. Crop tops? Questionable, but confident.
Performing comedy is one of her goals. She had a small part in a holiday movie. Following the recording—the lights, cameras, people—she said, “I tried to stop smiling and I couldn’t. That was the most fun I’ve ever had.” Insert apple-tree metaphor. 🍎
I don’t know how two completely different children come from the same people, but they do. Each one is spectacular. This one is no exception. Shoot for the moon, Sister!
Soap that Jiggles
A friend gifted Owen this bath jelly.
He likes it, which means he’ll wash, which means I like it, which means maybe you will, too.
Bottom of the News
Canadian Teenager Solves 211 Rubik's Cubes While Riding On A Pogo Stick.
Joy is found in unusual ways.
No matter where on the globe we are, may we find joyful moments that are completely ridiculous and refreshing.
✍️ As always, you can hire me to write for you. If you’re interested, please fill out this brief form.
Happy belated birthday to beautiful Emma!
Simone, I can totally relate to all of it
💙💛
Romeo roams! Hope he's back home safe.