366 Wonder Days Shared in 2020 — Now you can join me!
I walk by this building all the time, but I never have a reason to enter (so it has remained unnoticed, mostly). Tonight, a beautiful reading by Tyler Mills was held here.
And I really wondered how I’d never stopped to notice these windows before.
Is wondrous. He is three! He took this! Then one from his mama ain’t so bad.
My dad mailed me a copy of an old Christmas card my grandma Ingrid had sent him. She had saved a stack of the Lund holiday cards for a good thirty years or so. My dad called to tell me “clip art was just in” when he created this. He thinks it’s cheesy but I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever read.
If I get my humor from someone – it’s my dad! Read this.
Also I hope someone is secretly saving our holiday cards because I can’t seem to keep them together.
I’ve had a bad cough for a couple weeks. It was getting worse. I started meds on Thursday. Today I’m finally feeling a bit like I’m getting better instead of worse. Oklahoma has tested my nervous system. I hardly ever became sick in California. But here? It’s been almost every season (except last fall!).
So yesterday you’ll see I hardly posted a photo of a sign in our neighborhood that made me laugh.
Today, I’m relishing in the wonder of my husband and son who have made Love Day special. We went out for a fun dinner last night (B’s pick! Eskimo Joe’s). When we arrived home, I was gifted a fun giant card that involved avocados which they know I love. And today we went to an OSU basketball game!
But most of all: I was in wonder of my husband cleaning the house when I arrived home from doing homework this morning!
With his *girlfriend* Ally!
B and I were so excited to make Love Day treats for his class, we made them a night early! It was so fun and he astounded me with knowing his name. “There is the ‘ett’” he would say, referring to the last letters in Bennett. Every time we placed a sticker on a candy pack, he’d ask which friend the treat was for. Too cute! Such a kind boy, which brought my heart wonder tonight.
One of my graduate professors has been bringing our T/Th Ecocomposition class food every day since the start of the semester. When she brought donuts early on in January, I think most of us thought it would be a one time thing. But she hasn’t missed a day. I’ll call her “A.”
She doesn’t get anything “extra” for this. She doesn’t get to invoice her receipts and receive the money she spent on Trader Joe’s goodies on her next check. No one is watching her. Just us. And today it hit me how wonderful the act is.
This morning was my first day back to school having to get a toddler and a 8-week-old puppy ready before a long day ahead. There was so much added scrambling that I hardly took a few bites of a bagel my husband forgot and left on the counter.
When I sat at the wooden table this morning for class, pop-tarts, coffee dunkers, granola bars, and mini brownies with pink frosting and sprinkles adorned the table. I slid a brownie into my mouth and it tasted like sugary phenomenal bliss.
She’d tell us she started bringing us food because we voiced our concerns that we don’t get paid enough for the labor we do as graduate students for the university. Sometimes there are days, especially toward the end of the month, we struggle to pay the bills and grocery shop.
“When you told me you all [grad students] take care of each other, I wanted to take micro actions to help,” A said. She showed us that she listened. And although she cannot directly increase our paycheck by a few hundred dollars, the food helps. And it’s just really nice.
Last December I wrote an article for The Guardian on the US graduate student loan crisis. Many people chimed in, explaining I was not alone. On the fourth floor of our building, our department has a food pantry. It’s free. Most of us supply items up there ourselves, including feminine hygiene products and coffee, as well as dry goods, soda, and more. But breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays has been a delight.
“A” is the kind of role-model I really appreciate in a graduate degree. She reminds me: we may not be able to change the entire system in a day (or a semester) but small actions spread roots to form blooming results.
Something funny went viral today: NASA broomstick challenge. Nick showed me photos and photos of people standing their brooms up for apparently “today only” due to the earth’s gravitational pull. In their kitchens, living rooms, next to their corgi.
So we tried and it was hysterical. We FaceTimed my parents, and my dad, the scientist, laughed and said we could try this trick any day!
The Internet is a wild, wondrous, funny place sometimes.
I’ve been sick. Literally, the night we brought our new girl home I had a slight fever. So I’ve noticed wonder slips out of my mind when I’m not feeling my best. I’m stressed, wanting my body to feel better. Bennett and I have had a cough for about a week and I think it’s just a viral thing that will go away soon.
I watched a movie today that invoked zero wonder in me: Joker. It was more angering than enlightening. (Maybe I’ll write a film review later.
But in the brief moment of a sick day, our new Shi Girl fell asleep on my chest like a newborn. Prepare your hearts for the most precious wonder ever from our new girl.
Wonder Year: A journey to find enchantment every day 