A Few of My Favorite Things
Foggy mornings, muddy trails, acts of kindness, and hope.
Hello Friends,
It’s nearly Christmas, our heater is on most days, and the drought-stricken foothills behind my house have been thick with mud from the rain we got this week.
It all has me in a mood.
I’m reading a lot (four books going at once), running a little (mostly walking), and contemplating the year ahead (all the goals, and projects, and lists).
I watched The White Helmets on Netflix this week. It’s a beautiful documentary about humanitarians in Syria who conduct rescue and recovery missions after bombings. They are the kind of people who run towards disaster. They are “The Helpers” Mr. Rodgers was talking about. There’s a scene where they pull a one-week-old baby out of the rubble that I will never forget.
They want the bombings to stop and their country to see peace, but they never turn bitter or get discouraged. They remain hopeful.
“Without hope, what good is life?”
This is where I am today. Thank you for listening.
Emily
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Just Finished
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
This book is a hug in the form of words and watercolor. I don’t usually buy “gift books.” They are often filled with platitudes and fluff, but this book is none of that. It is a story of friendship, vulnerability, and profound truths. Elizabeth Gilbert said it best, “The world I am required to inhabit is this one. But the world that I long to inhabit is the one created by Charlie Mackesy.”
This book will live on my forever bookshelf so that I might have a chance at making my world a little more like the one with the Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse.
Charlie Mackesy also has a beautiful Instagram feed with drawings and animations.
Links to Ponder
The Poet of Endurance Races On This is a MUST listen! A conversation with Tommy Rivs, endurance athlete, poet, a cancer survivor. (Rich Roll)
A message from Tommy Rivs after finishing the New York Marathon in 9 hours and 19 minutes. (Instagram)
A profile of Tommy Rivs, from Olympic dreams to cancer and back to the New York Marathon (New York Times)
The em-dash: It’s so much more than a hyphen (Twitter)
Dolly Parton is a treasure (Twitter)
Quite possibly the best Modern Love essay I have ever read. (New York Times)
We Are Living Through the Boring Apocolypse (New York Times)
What Would a Post Roe America Look Like? (New York Times) It’s likely a done deal. Abortion rights will be stripped from millions of women by summer. I think it’s time to consider the consequences, intended and otherwise.
Overturning Roe Will Make Miscarriage Worse (New York Times) And this doesn’t say anything about IVF and the effect on parents struggling with fertility.
The Joy of Writing by Hand (Gawker)
Children’s books explain the hard things in the best way (The Margin Align)
What are you reading or listening to this week? What have you created that wasn’t there before? Post your response in the comments below or tag me on Instagram @emilykathleenwrites