The blog, the blog, the blog.
Once upon a time, every single day included writing for the blog, and my goal was to post once a week- I'm not sure I ever managed that high of a goal (never fear, unrealistic expectations of my abilities are one of my hallmark traits).
So it's sort of a vicious cycle- I don't have the proper time to write, and I decide to wait until I actually have something to say, and then I do have something to say and I don't have the proper time to write. And round and round it goes.
It's not- it's never- that I think I have profound things to say. My life is little and tiny on purpose.
The girls and I have developed a rhythm in the past, oh, 4 years that we think makes life fairly perfect. We go about our days, me at work, them in school (or Betsy at work during the summer at both the pool and the Zane Grey museum), and then at 4 o'clock we walk.
Our walk is the best- the absolute best- part of our day. Even when it's so hot we are dying to get back home, even when we have to take the umbrellas with us- always, everyday, it's the best. The reason for that is pretty simple. While we walk they tell me their day. Betsy goes first, and Betsy misses not a single minute of her entire day. Felicity goes second and tends to gloss over bits so we have to say, wait a minute, back up, what? Which is to say, she's funny.
We stumbled upon this routine during COVID as something to do while socially distancing. As with everything, I didn't realize until we had been doing this for oh, probably two years, that this time was special because we are concentrating on nothing else but what each other is saying.
Highly recommend, 10 out of 10, parenting people becoming adults can indeed be the bomb.
Stuff I'm Loving:
We watched Party of Five and I will die on the hill that Scott Wolf should have been nominated for an Emmy for season three. Party of Five was my favorite television show of the 1990s for a very long time, and while I did not remember properly how much turmoil the Salingers endure, it was a wonderful show to revisit.
We also watched Rags to Riches, which was a short lived television show that aired on Sundays on NBC when I was in 4th grade. It is an hour long show about a man who adopts 5 orphans in the 1960s and it is a musical- it's all the things, and we all three enjoyed it more than we anticipated. (I had remembered enjoying it, but that means little as we rediscover old tv shows and movies because baby Joy was not the most discerning.)
Brats
The documentary about the Brat Pack is interesting- I have read Andrew McCarthy's memoir and so I knew exactly what he was going for in creating this documentary. I have a lot of feelings about the Brat Pack, which of course I wish with all of my born in the 70s, raised in the 80s heart they actually embraced. But I do indeed understand that it was not received warmly, and while Demi and Rob come across as having made peace with the moniker, that's also likely because they went on to big careers that were tainted at times by much worse than a silly nickname bestowed by a snotty journalist.
I was sad that Judd Nelson declined to participate because Judd was the best, hands down, the best, of all of them. He deserved a bigger career, and he was particularly singled out because, after all, he was perceived as the leader. His performance in The Breakfast Club is the reason that the movie works. Judd is carrying the entire heart of the movie inside of this brash, over-the-top kid who is hurt to his core by the adults around him. It bothers me when something that I love- and I love all of the movies that are categorized as "Brat Pact" movies- has created something that the person wants to be done with. I feel somewhat complicit in keeping them trapped as teenagers. It would be my wish for them to know that even this one performance was transformative for someone.
That said, I also marvel that Emilio allowed Andrew to interview him. Emilio carries the burden of having been the one to invite the journalist along (in true irony because he was afraid that he was coming off as stuffy and unfun in this profile of him). Emilio was destined to become the next Coppola, and he instead had to settle for Mighty Ducks (which, do not misunderstand, the girls and I love).
Maybe it all does seem silly. But I appreciate that Andrew tried to take it apart and figure it out.
You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora
I'm reading this because it was featured in the documentary and it is excellent. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Just now, we are watching Buffy and Family Ties and Who's the Boss? (actually, just now we are watching the Olympics, but then back to normal). One of my girl's friends recently told her that it's cool that we spend our evenings together watching old tv shows and movies, and it's pretty much my favorite compliment ever. It's always really just about who I was when I was their ages and what I enjoyed and normally they like it too.
I'm just lucky that that.
