I am chewing ice, which last week I told my sister would rot her teeth
It won’t actually. And me chewing ice in this coffee shop probably means I should eat more protein, I beginning to think everything means I should eat more protein.
We went to Lamar’s after church this morning, I ordered and paid for two donuts, but when I opened my bag outside, there were four donuts. It was either a miscommunication, luck, or because I asked “how are you?” Which I will now do until someone who works in a public-facing job tells me it’s actually annoying to tell people all day how they are.
This sentence now has links to the 100th issue master spread sheet, my instagram, my Outdoor Voices referral link, and old issues of the newsletter.
Number One: 7500 OBO
Once in a blue moon, a pop-country song comes along that meets me in my bones. The evergreen example of this is Come Over. Last weekend my friend Lilly introduced me to Tim (or is it Tom?) McGraw’s 7500 OBO. It is total nonsense, there is nothing exceptional musically about it. But catch me in my mid-size SUV crooning “out of 119,000 miles, only five on the new transmission…”
Number Two: Communion
Back in March, as everything was closing down, my friend Morgan and I walked around the indoor track at the Y mask-less and talked about how strange it was that church didn’t meet that morning. We hypothesized that we would be back in our balcony by on Easter - a triumphal return.
I’m grateful now to have been protected from accurate predictions of the last six months.
This morning, I sat in our balcony again and for the first time since March, took communion. For my non-church friends, this is when Christians eat bread and drink wine either in memorial of Christ’s death and sacrifice, and/or because we believe that through the work of the Holy Spirit, it becomes either like the body and blood, or becomes the literal body and blood thus spiritually nourishing us - it depends on how metal you are, I guess.
I have a lot of ~opinions~ about how and how often communion should be served, at times these opinions have felt extremely heavy, at other times entirely trivial. I tend to err on the “as often as the saints are gathered, and every available believer is invited” side of things. But I will no longer spiritually knife someone who thinks differently than me, and that’s sanctification, probably.
I love communion. I love the mystery of it. I love the ritual of it. I love that we’re all probably doing it wrong on some level, but one day we’ll do it right, and that will be glory. And I was grateful to hear “On the night that he was betrayed…” from an in-person person today. It did my spirit good.
Number Three: A heartbreaking photo essay
This photo essay on hunger in America has haunted me this week. It made me want to pay off school lunch debt, donate to a food pantry, and stop throwing away so much food.
Number Four: Loft jeans and Target tank tops
In Katherine’s Barbie Dream House life I only have a few high-quality, ethically made items in my closet, and I’ve moved away from fast fashion. I’m closer to this than I used to be, but still have miles to go.
And I am proud to report I have not fallen prey to a LOFT Sale since April - but back in the Spring I did buy two pairs of jeans from the Justice(tm) for Women with a Work Dress Code, and they meet the mark as far as jeans go.
I also bought two of these Target tank tops, and will probably buy more - they are a little on the see-through side, but I love the fit
Number Five: Foundering - the WeWork Story
I love a mini-series style podcast or story on things that seemed flashy now revealed to have tons of holes. See Bad Blood, the HQ Trivia story, and now Foundering.
Foundering details the rise and fall of WeWork - the micro office landlords out to change the way we live. It’s a fascinating, well-produced, and quick listen.
As promised, here’s the link to Ticket to Ride. Long story made short, I am putting together a writing portfolio this week, if you ever read an issue of Five Things and thought “good writing on this one, not too many typos” will you let me know?