I’ve always dreamed of a tidy house.
But what I had for decades was several pairs of shoes piled at the door, backpacks of both sport and school varieties scattered throughout the entire first floor, dishes stacked high after a tailgate prep session that fed twenty people, a cooler of ice sitting in the garage for days after a dinner party, and never-ending laundry.
Now the shoes are lined up. Nobody's in the living room to pull the blanket loose or flatten the pillows. The water bill is lower than I ever thought possible. I spent decades wanting this. Turns out, most days, I miss the mess.
TODAY’S PICKS
THE FEATURE
I Spent A Year In The Gym And Came Out Looking Five Months Pregnant.
A year of chasing a body that wasn't showing up. What she learned about comparison along the way changed the whole workout.
Tell Me Something Good.
What's actually getting better in your life right now?
I'll pick one at random and buy you a coffee!
THE REFLECTION
When Did I Stop Being A Person?
One line about gray divorce says it plainly: when did I stop being a person? Not a marriage question. A bigger one.
THE WILDCARD
A Walking Shark?
Scientists spotted something moving strangely across a reef near Papua New Guinea. It didn't swim so much as walk, and it turned out no one had ever named it.
If you know someone who'd love this, send it to them.
That's the whole ask.
There's something in it for you too.
Details below.
My answer:
My career. Corporate marketing, then project management, then a non-profit, then a coworking space I ran and eventually owned, now a newsletter. None of it in a straight line. I still measure it against the version where someone picks one ladder and climbs it, the kind of career you can sum up in a single sentence at a dinner party. Mine takes five sentences and a shrug.
