Happy Sunday!
I am writing to you from Friday evening after a very pleasant day. It’s the first day of Fall Chill here in Kansas City and I welcoming the cooler weather with open arms. I haven’t yet swapped out my sweaters for the swimsuits, but maybe by the time you’re reading this I will have.
You’ll noticed I screenshotted a video here and didn’t crop out the time stamp.
Hope today is beautiful for you!
Number One: Man Called Fran
This is just an excellent piece of prose. It rings especially true if you have ever had a smell in your house, if you have ever called a contractor to your house, if you have ever been in a house. I loved it.
Number Two: Zechariah 9
I am mere chapters away from ending my two year, three year, long journey of reading through the Bible in alphabetical order. Last week I encountered Zechariah 9. A sweet balm in the midst of chaotic minor prophets. Would recommend spending some time with it.
Number Three: Siete Chips
I just like Siete tortilla chips. I like how light they taste, I think they are the perfect amount of salty.
Number Four: Locals, go see Hollie at Bloom
Five Things company policy is to try something trice before I go about recommending. But I got the best facial of my whole life this week from Hollie at Bloom on Johnson Drive and I want you to know about it.
I have long envied Paige Forrest’s HD Skin in Dallas. This is my HD Skin. The vibes, the care, the glow. I loved it all. Not cheap, but worth it.
Number Five: The Girls on the Run Method for receiving compliments and/or killing time at practice
I am, for the fourth season, coaching with Girls on the Run. Volunteering with GOTR is kind of ideal for me because it’s high commitment, highly relational, and has a clear end. I feel like I’m making a big difference, I don’t feel like I’m giving all my free time away. I’m coaching at a different school this season, and long story short, it’s just me and this really sweet college student that can only be there on Thursdays, so just me on Tuesdays. There was some staff turnover right as the season was kicking off so it’s been a bit of a, “wait, who’s on this team?” Quite a few of the girls don’t speak English at home, no one knows their shoe size. I’m having a ball and feeling really supported by the GOTRKC home office doing it.
One theme in the curriculum is “self-talk” and encouraging girls to cultivate self talk. We’ve started playing this game during the warm up where the girls break off into pairs, one girl runs to the half court line and yells an encouraging word, “you are smart!” On the other line the partner yells back, “I am smart!” And then they swap sides and two minutes later I make them switch partners until we’ve killed enough time to start running laps. It’s so tender to hear their little voices echoing out, “I am amazing! I am good at math! I am beautiful!”
My least favorite part of the curriculum is when we talk about negative self talk - a necessary evil. It’s just so shocking and appalling how many girls write down “I am fat,” as an example of negative self talk. Like sorry, you’re nine, you don’t get to say that, the world is cannot be that cruel. But also, like yeah, I was feeling bad about my body at that age too. Which is maybe why the work of being a safe adult who models positive self talk is so important?