Read the comments

I always go into a comment section with apprehension. But seeing this as the first one on a story I wrote this week made me smile so big:

"I knew I'd love this article after the first sentence."

It had multiple likes, too. And as nice as it is to get feedback from strangers, it was even greater to hear from friends and colleagues who thought it was good. Hooray.

Favorite words

One of the options on a press-one-for-X menu I called today included hearing a radio personality say her favorite words. 

So I did! And she did. Among them: splendid and hilarious. 

Stamps

I got a new batch the other day - American Gardens. I finally opened them to send some letters tonight and one of the ones they chose is Stan Hywet in Ohio. It made me smile to see it there. 

Pool

I participate in an annual pool with a group of friends, acquaintances and strangers. And today I learned I'm tied for first! It goes until the end of the year, so there's plenty of time for others to pass me. But for now, it was nice.

And I have several friends who are interested in the standings, so it gave me an excuse to reach out and check in.

This weekend

I watched a movie outside, picked some apples, sat around a fire and talked with friends. If not for the masks and the distance, it might have felt like any other October. It wasn't ideal -- after all, there's still a pandemic -- but it was something.

Newsrooms

There's a lot happening today, and it's maybe not something that makes me smile -- but man, am I grateful right now for all the big news days when I've been able to be in a newsroom. No matter the newsroom, it's a group of thoughtful, engaged, curious people who are willing to talk about the biggest happenings of the moment. 

I'm missing it right now, in month seven of working from home, but not in the same way I did when I was home on an election night (for example). Then, I knew the conversations were happening and I was not part of them. Sure, there are conversations happening all over the country. But very few of them are the newsroom conversations I long for. It's not that I'm left out of them. They don't exist. (At least not in my newsroom, today.)

So I'm grateful for all the times I could turn to the reporter next to me and raise my eyebrows and point and begin a tirade or a winding conversation that would inevitably end up somewhere unexpected. I hope I get to have that again. I don't expect it to be soon.

In the meantime: What a hell of a day. What a week. What a year.

Obsessed

I am in love with this batch of five parrots that were all swearing and laughing at each other in a giant, recurring stew. 

Humans

You know what's nice? Relationships with people. 

I had two work-related incidents today that reminded me of that. One with someone I haven't talked to in several months, who remembered something about me I'm not sure I knew she knew. Another with a coworker who took time to answer a question that wasn't at all related to work, where he could have just blown me off.

It made me happy on both counts that the relationships existed and were more than surface-level in those ways that mattered today.

Conversation

Discussing important topics this afternoon with a handful of people, thoughtfully.

Writing

Sometimes your brain does things that you don't know it's doing, but they just work. That's what happened with a story I wrote yesterday, where the kicker was accidentally perfect. 

I had no idea - I wrote it quickly then moved on to other things - but got two texts about it this morning. I went back to look. It worked so very well. 

Thanks, brain. (It's also why I'm suspect of literary criticism. But maybe I'm the only one who accidentally writes that way.)

Notes

I sent notes to a couple co-workers today for things they did that I appreciated. Hopefully it made them smile! One replied noting that we had just passed the 26-week mark since we'd been sent home. It's a wacky thing.

Nicknames

The book I started last night begins with a character calling her best friend by a series of nicknames -- ZanaBanana, Prescription Xanax, Alexander Zamilton. Zanny Boy. The Zan names go on.

While we do it less frequently now, a friend and I used to start and end every email correspondence with what I will call the incorporative nickname. I would sometimes delay responses while I looked for the perfect fit, and I'd stash away good ones when I came across them. So the fact that these were on Page 1 was a good open for this book, (from the box of books!), which I enjoyed.

Also, in the reviews, there was a comment thread about how someone almost burned down a house after trying to dry a shirt in the oven, and that made me laugh, too.

Surprise

I got to be on the phone with someone I sent something to as it arrived at the front door -- and the confused reaction to the knock, followed by being able to tell them what it was they were being surprised with was really great. (It was ice cream! We should all be surprised with ice cream. As long as there's someone home to get it!)

It's nice

When you hear back from people quickly.

And when people reach out with things you should know.

And when they answer your questions when you ask them.

Box o' books

A friend told me to look out for a package Monday, so I was super excited when there was something in the mailbox Saturday. (It was my office, sending a plastic doohickey for pressing buttons. Perhaps useful, but not the package I was waiting for.)

Yesterday, there it was: a box of books! Three of them! All sweet-looking YA, with a lovely note.

It was so kind and thoughtful and I can't wait to dig in.

Scavenger hunt

As part of a friend's birthday celebration, I was a clue in a scavenger hunt (and directed him to another person who would direct him to another who would, eventually, lead him to a birthday present).

I thought it was such a neat idea and the long text conversation was so nice to have.

Book exchange

I've been in the same book club for nearly a decade, and one of the highlights is the twice-annual white elephant book exchange where people steal and steal and steal books and it takes forever to know what you're going home with.

That's hard in a pandemic.

While we've been able to keep having meetings on Zoom, the exchange was a different story. But tonight, we figured it out! And so if all goes to plan, I should be getting a book in the mail in the not-too-distant future.

That's pretty wonderful, as are the successes in normalcy, such as it is now.

Obits

I always hate having to write an obituary, because it means there are people who are mourning. But there's something so powerful about writing them, too. You are often the last word on someone's life.

I'm glad, today, that I was able to write one to memorialize someone who touched so many people. And I was glad to help people process grief, remember a loved one and smile while they recalled certain memories. It's lousy, but it's good.

Sharing is caring

Glad to be able to help a few friends who have needed a lift these past few days, each in some small way.

Ring ring

How nice to get phone calls today from two friends I've known since I was in the single digits. Fourth grade was a good grade, even all these years later.