February Reads + Miscellany

On Transitions, Forrest Gump, and the Campus Novel I Loved

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The Bittersweetness of Transitions

I finished another journal this past month. It’s my third finished journal in three years, which I relish celebrating after a lifetime of buying beautiful journals, diaries, and planners only to abandon them after a few pages. Two hundred and fifty full handwritten pages! This one was particularly special—the first entry was a toast I gave at my brother’s rehearsal dinner, and the last entry was an essay I wrote about my grandmother. As you would see by the stickers on the cover, this journal took me to our friend’s treehouse Airbnb, Montana, New York City, and five other states (at least). Not to mention the emotional journey it’s seen. It will be hard to say goodbye to this one.

What do you do with old journals? I do keep them…with strict instructions that they should be burned without reading.

I also had to get a new passport and was surprised at how emotional it made me. My last passport had stamps from Grand Cayman, Wales, England, Italy, and Canada. Where will the next ten years take me? I can’t wait to find out…yet I have such tenderness for the version of myself from ten years ago. Like my journals, it’s hard to say goodbye.

February Delights:

• Without a doubt, the best part of the month was, after this post, receiving texts and emails from you sharing where you’ve seen God in your life. I really can’t tell you how much that meant to me and how reinforcing it was to see evidence of the divine in your lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

• My friend Amanda, owner of Dog-Eared Books in Ames, Iowa, sent me a surprise package chock full of books from her most recent book convention. Aren’t surprise care packages the best?!

• Speaking of dogs, we had a couple of warm days this month and I pulled out my hammock. Sitting (on top of me) in a hammock happens to be the very favorite activity of my goldendoodle, Sloane. After a long few winter months, she could not have jumped up on that hammock quicker. (By the way, she’s named after raven-hair beauty Sloane Peterson from Ferris Bueller).

What I Watched/Listened To:

• As Missourians, we were, of course, obsessed with this year’s Super Bowl. In the week leading up to it, Eric and I watched Kelce, a documentary mostly centered around Jason Kelce but features plenty of Travis as well. I’m not a big sports watcher, but I love sports documentaries. This one was a really fun watch, especially if you liked Quarterback on Netflix. (Stream on Amazon Prime).

• In Savannah, we kept walking by the famous “Life is like a box of chocolates” bench from Forrest Gump. This inspired us to nostalgically watch it when we got home with our 16 and 14-year-olds. I guess I was ten years old when it came out in theaters and didn’t understand half of what was going on in the movie. Viewing it now was heartwarming and heartbreaking. Oh, how I cried! Also, a great way to review the fantastic music of the 60s and 70s with your Gen-Zers.

  

• Another tear-jerker was Joni Mitchell’s performance at the Grammys, right?! Not a dry eye in the house. I did a deep-dive into all the musicians that performed with her and now I’m really into Allison Russell.

• Another Substacker (Emma Gannon) recommended the song “Don’t You Worry” by Electic Fields as a great pick-me-up. This made me think about one of my favorite pick-me-up songs, Yebba’s cover of John Mayer’s “The Age of Worry.” I feel about 1000 times more confident after I hear this soulful track.

• I hate to admit it, but a guilty pleasure of mine these days is listening to teen favorite Olivia Rodrigo. Yes, she’s angsty. But for anyone who thinks they are above it, I’d like to point to every generation’s angry singer-songwriter: Alanis Morisette? Carly Simon? We all had a version. I love the cuteness that is Olivia and Noah Kahan’s cover-swap in the BBC’s Live Lounge. You can hear Olivia sing “Stick Season” and Noah sing “Lacy” and feel all those feelings (or at least relate to your teens).

What I Read This Month:

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid: Amazon | Bookshop