Time is so mysterious. I can never seem to wrap my mind around it. Today is 25 years since my dad died. But that feels impossible somehow. Maybe this is why marking this day is so important to me, so I can begin to grasp the passage of time. Today is all the more bewildering but much less painful because like a faraway star my dad’s bright light keeps reaching us all these years later. I know so many of you still read by that light, still navigate by that light, still bask in it. And it means a lot.
Nearly three weeks ago this small creature came into this strange and wondrous, terrible, beautiful, heartbreaking and magnificent world. He was born weighing almost 10lbs with a full head of dark hair. And when they put him in my arms, with hearts full of hope and boundless love, we whispered “welcome to the planet Earth, Isaac”.
I am 39 years old today. And also 25 weeks pregnant. And also the mother of an amazing 4 year old who whispers little pearls of wisdom to my belly (slide 2). And also wife to an irresistible man who very patiently takes dozens of photos of me with a giant baby head sculpture so that I can post two. Really just feeling very lucky and bursting with gratitude today ♥️🎂
I am 39 years old today. And also 25 weeks pregnant. And also the mother of an amazing 4 year old who whispers little pearls of wisdom to my belly (slide 2). And also wife to an irresistible man who very patiently takes dozens of photos of me with a giant baby head sculpture so that I can post two. Really just feeling very lucky and bursting with gratitude today ♥️🎂
Yesterday was my 40th birthday and it was one for the ages. I guess I thought I might be kinda emotional about turning 40, multiple of ten and all. But time only moves in one direction, and it was a truly spectacular day. I feel very lucky. Thank you so much to everyone who wrote and called me with birthday wishes. And especially to my dream of a husband who planned a glorious adventure for us. I really have everything I could ever need or want. Except one thing: for you, dear U.S. reader, to vote today. For a greener, safer, more just, more equitable, more scientifically-literate, more welcoming society, please. Or else I shudder to think where we might be by the time I turn 50.
Is this like wearing the t-shirt to the concert? 🍅🇮🇹
Ok I am extremely excited. I’ve been dreaming of making this podcast for ages and it’s coming out TOMORROW! Welcome to ‘Strange Customs’ from @onlyskymedia where I get to talk to the smartest, funniest writers, actors, historians, and scientists about how weird we humans can be. In each episode we’ll explore one of our brilliant, terrible, beautiful, antiquated, ingenious, elaborate, oppressive, poignant, elegant, ancient, modern, funny little rituals and traditions. Why do we do them? Where did they come from? And how would we explain them to a visitor from another world? Listen and subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts (link in bio) 🎧💙
There are so many layers of emotion wrapped up in Mother’s Day, motherhood, childhood, and just being a mammal, really. At the core of it all, I am just eternally grateful to have been brought into existence and then, later, to have been able to bring more people into it. Magic. Endless thanks today to all the generations, past and future, and especially my beautiful, brilliant mama and my sweet, funny babies 🩷
There are so many layers of emotion wrapped up in Mother’s Day, motherhood, childhood, and just being a mammal, really. At the core of it all, I am just eternally grateful to have been brought into existence and then, later, to have been able to bring more people into it. Magic. Endless thanks today to all the generations, past and future, and especially my beautiful, brilliant mama and my sweet, funny babies 🩷
There are so many layers of emotion wrapped up in Mother’s Day, motherhood, childhood, and just being a mammal, really. At the core of it all, I am just eternally grateful to have been brought into existence and then, later, to have been able to bring more people into it. Magic. Endless thanks today to all the generations, past and future, and especially my beautiful, brilliant mama and my sweet, funny babies 🩷
This astonishing, witty, sunshiny little human won’t be an only child for much longer. She is both excited and apprehensive about becoming a sister. Change is hard and getting a sibling is a very big change for a very small person. We’ve been celebrating her and doing our best to prepare her. We wanted to throw her a big party to congratulate her on becoming a big sister but, you know, pandemic. It does occur to me though that there should be more rituals around the rite of passage into siblinghood. Do you have any, personal or cultural? If not, what should those rituals be?
This weekend I had the pleasure of speaking at #ffrfcon2021, but the greater joy was learning so much from many of the other speakers. In particular the brilliant one pictured with me here!
This is Helena, wearing her great-grandmother’s hat. She is curious, gregarious, clever, and wonderful. It is such pleasure and privilege to travel this planet with her as we mark her fifth voyage around our star. Happy birthday to our beloved little wanderer 💛
I record Strange Customs in my closet, sitting way too close to the computer, and even still it’s outrageously fun for me. Here’s a tiny little preview of what this season has in store for you. The first episode, featuring my dear friend @brandonkylegoodman, is out now!!! Find it, you know, wherever you get your podcasts ✨
I am so lucky I got to write this piece for @thevioletbook about the theater as a kind of secular church and the bonding nature of loss, through the lens of my friendship with this amazing, brilliant woman. Thank you, @lilyrabe @thevioletbook @leithclark. Beautiful photos by @victoriawill 🖤
I loved making valentines for my classmates when I was little. Choosing who got which one, filling them in, handing them out, opening the ones I received. One of many #strangecustoms I have taken great pleasure in all my life. This year, my daughter’s teacher asked the students not to address their valentines and just fill in the “from” section so they could be distributed more efficiently. So Helena took it upon herself to address each one with “I Love You” instead. The sweetness of it took my breath away. There are so many different ways to love one another and I’m for celebrating them all, on a cheesy holiday loosely related to a 3rd Century Roman clergyman and every other day of the year, too. 💌
The this week’s episode of #strangecustoms features the one and only @billnye diving into the deep end of some of the most profound, most interesting questions around how we experience life on this particular planet. Thank you, Bill for an unforgettable conversation!
So many brilliant insights on so many “tricky” topics from my beautiful, wise friend @kirstendunst in this week’s episode of #strangecustoms.
Oh, how I love hearing about the new rituals people have invented! And this one, created by @sleepinthegardn, is a poem. New episode of #strangecustoms is out now, link in bio.
Welp, thanks to @nicolerichie, my most controversial opinion finally came out in this week’s episode of #strangecustoms
Last month I had the immense pleasure of walking around the @nublockmuseum while artist #dariorobleto guided me through his brilliant show, The Heart’s Knowledge. It includes, among many other stirring objects that seem to intersect science and emotion, small golden sculptures made from the earliest waveform recordings of blood flow to the heart during the most profound and pedestrian of human experiences, enumerated above. Dario found medical records dating back to as early as the 1850s and made these hills and valleys of life into something tangible, solid, and bright. I’m admiring them in slide two. They look like jewelry, imbued with the feelings of hearts that beat once upon a time. I had such a wonderful time talking to Dario for the season finale of #strangecustoms, out tomorrow! … In the meantime zoom in and tag yourself. I’m “under the influence of hiccups, 1886”.
Last month I had the immense pleasure of walking around the @nublockmuseum while artist #dariorobleto guided me through his brilliant show, The Heart’s Knowledge. It includes, among many other stirring objects that seem to intersect science and emotion, small golden sculptures made from the earliest waveform recordings of blood flow to the heart during the most profound and pedestrian of human experiences, enumerated above. Dario found medical records dating back to as early as the 1850s and made these hills and valleys of life into something tangible, solid, and bright. I’m admiring them in slide two. They look like jewelry, imbued with the feelings of hearts that beat once upon a time. I had such a wonderful time talking to Dario for the season finale of #strangecustoms, out tomorrow! … In the meantime zoom in and tag yourself. I’m “under the influence of hiccups, 1886”.
We’re off this week so instead of a new episode please accept this montage featuring a smattering of beloved #strangecustoms guests, past and future. And I want to know: what’s been your favorite episode so far? And what customs would you like to hear us cover in the future?✨
A couple of years ago when I first started daydreaming about making #strangecustoms THIS is the episode I wanted to do. So happy I got to talk to the hilarious and wonderful @ktqlowes & @shappyshaps about this particular form of human weirdness ❤️
