What are you up to this weekend? Alex and I are going to dinner at Ingas Bar. We’re planning to meet there (to keep the spark alive) for cheeseburgers. Have a good one — Eid Mubarak to our Muslim readers! — and here are a few links from around the web…
Catbird has beautiful Mother’s Day gifts, and here are my picks.
Tuna sandwiches with potato chips. (NYT)
Harry Styles talks about childhood fame, cold-water swimming, and finally feeling free.
Spoiler paintings made me laugh.
A couple’s infertility journey, illustrated.
“The truth is that motherhood is a hero’s journey. For most of us it’s not a journey outward, to the most fantastic and farthest-flung places, but inward, downward, to the deepest parts of your strength, to the innermost buried core of everything you are made of but didn’t know was there… You have to realize that while you were blissed out on your mother’s lap, one of those epic battles, the kind that envelops heroes as they fight their way out of a ring of fire, was raging just above your head. No one wants to believe that in the moments you felt the most peaceful, the woman cradling you so softly was shielding you from a sword that she herself was holding.” (New York Magazine)
And my favorite swim cover-up.
How to navigate Ramadan if you struggle with mental health. “Our sleep schedules are irregular due to nightly prayers and pre-dawn meals. Despite getting less sleep than usual, we show up for life more, doing charity, visiting the mosque, and gathering for iftar parties. For those living in non-Muslim-majority countries, our workload is the same, without any consideration or accommodation for the spiritual journey that we are on.”
Busted, haha.
Super compelling podcast episode.
103 pieces of advice from a 70-year-old. “The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished.”
Plus, two reader comments:
Says Vicki on the teen, the tween, the toddler and the bump: “I’ve got a teenager who’s about to go to high school (mind blown). He is definitely at that argumentative can-only-see-his-feelings stage, but when I get home late from work, I always ask if he wants to watch a show with me and he always says yes. Then I watch myself making dumb jokes while he rolls his eyes and I realize that I have become my father. I remember being mildly annoyed and amused by my dad as he would make dumb jokes through shows and now realize that he was just excited that we were spending time together and was overcompensating. Your teen is like the popular kid at school who rarely acknowledges your existence, so when they do you try too hard and get awkward!”
Says Lindsey on Joanna and Jenny talk on a podcast: “Oh my gosh!!! Joanna, you mentioned my comment about going into labor in the comments section of a post about “who would you want in the delivery room” *and* you remembered the name of my sweet baby, Samson! That little rainbow baby just turned 5! What is time even. I actually just had a third surprise baby boy 10 weeks ago. After a hard morning with lots of crying (mine), I took Ezzie (the baby, who does not sleep) for a walk and popped on Jenny’s podcast only to hear you mention my comment. *magic* Hearing your kind voice reference a joyful part of my motherhood story on a day when I felt like I was drowning and desperate was such a balm for the soul. Eternally grateful for this community, and for you, and the ways in which all of our stories are connected – they help me remember that babies be babies, no feeling lasts forever, and we’re all in this together. Happy freaking Friday!!! Let’s do this.”
(Photo by Joy the Baker.)