{A picture connected to my watching and realising recaps for the week}
It's been a while, mostly due to the fact that my morning writing times have been taken up by writing in my journal or (very slowly) working on a short story. The words just haven't been flowing recently, and I am learning to be okay with that. Not every season has to involve words spilling out of me; fecundity is not a perpetual state of being for the writer. Nevertheless, I am happy to be back here today for an update on what's been happening in my world.
First up, I am moving! (Yes, again.) I knew when I moved into this house that there would be another move in my future come November. I put this fact firmly into a locked room at the back of my mind, then, at about the six-weeks-to-go mark, the sneaky fact escaped and claimed all of my head space. I went to five flat viewings that were no-gos for various reasons: the house was dark and lifeless, the house was a safety hazard, the potential flatmates seemed scared of me, the potential flatmate gave me a douchey vibe... you get the picture. Nothing like flat hunting to confirm that it's a wild world out there. I was at the point of despair when a friend of S's reached out to S to ask if I was still looking for a flat. We arranged a viewing for that day, I went, I saw, got a good feeling, and said yes. A surprising, yet not, answer to prayer and means of God showing his kindness.
In school news, my class was on hosting our school assembly this week and I was stressed. My class had decided they wanted to do a skit and a quiz (great!) but this involved them practising and perfecting lines, learning how to project their voices and not standing with their backs to the audience, all of which seemed impossible for them... on Thursday. Nevertheless, we scrapped most of our usually-scheduled school programming to practise (ugh) and pulled together an assembly that we were all proud of. I can now put up my feet and wipe the experience from my memory until next year.
That's not the only school update from this week. Without going into detail, I've been asked to consider a couple of different opportunities for next year, both of which will involve taking on significantly more responsibility. While it's nice to be asked - really nice - I've been pausing to consider how much growth I can handle. Is perpetual change possible? Or good? Or necessary? I had been looking forward to, well, coasting a little more next year, gradually taking on more responsibility in the following year. But: I don't want to stagnate or be cowardly, particularly when I'm in a season of life where I can afford to take on a little more. I'm definitely leaning more towards one option than the other, and will make the call and let my mentor know sometime this week.
There's a lot more that I could say about the last seven days, but I'll leave it at that for now and go into recapping it in (expanded) bullet-point form.
Realisations: I love blogs. I know this seems like a bit of a 'duh' statement from someone who's currently typing on one, but I was made particularly aware of this love when I stumbled across an old-school blog link-up from last year. Each post linked to the next one in the chain, taking the reader on a delightful tour of various small-name sites, each answering a slightly different question. It was so 2012, and it took me back to the heyday of blogging - weekly link-ups, advertising your blog on someone else's (by creating a crappy pin on an online photo-editor that wasn't Canva), attending blogger conferences??? (I never did that last one, but I know for a fact they existed). I love the labour of loves that blogs were, for no money and no goal other than to share snippets of one's life and be creative.
Watching: Last week, I rewatched You've Got Mail, and, as always, it was an utter delight. New York in the fall, as seen through the lens of Nora Ephron, is always one of my favourite destinations. I love the dialogue, the outfits, the set design, everything. I'm not holding You've Got Mail up as an example of how to conduct a relationship, but there's still a lot that I can appreciate about it.
Listening: To 1989 (Taylor's Version) of course! It was such a fun listen at the end of a looong week as I lay on the couch, trying not to cry with relief that it was all over. I really like a couple of the new tracks in particular - "Say Don't Go" and "Now That We Don't Talk".
Reading: Many good, and some truly great things. The good: Organizing for the Rest of Us by Dana K. White, Homegoing by Yaa Gyaasi, a Babysitters Club book. The great: Miracle at St Anna's by James McBride. McBride's in particular - his nuanced portrait of race relations between Americans and Italians during World War II, his humour, his ultimate hopefulness about people - was a balm for me this week. I've got The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store sitting on my shelf and can't wait to crack into it before the end of the year.
That's all for now, friends - happy Monday! (because yes, I am pressing publish on a Monday). Here's to the new week being full of grace and fruitfulness, as well as significantly less teary than the last. x
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