OOH LA LA! #23

Say what you want and trust there is goodness ahead

My two-year-old niece is very expressive and is learning how to say what she thinks and feels. We are the same, as I am also always learning how to do this, but the difference is that she is not yet weighed down by ideas of social expectations or pressures to conform, and in that way, she is more free than me.

Would she like a hug right now? No. Some diced onions? Yes. A diaper change? Definitely not. A trip to the park? Yes, but specifically the one with the long slide. She knows what she wants and she says it. I want to be more like this.

I’m most inspired by the way she communicates her feelings with the same fervor and uninhibited expression. She cries big when she is sad or upset or tired, and when she is joyful and happy, her whole body proclaims it. Not only that, but in moments of bliss, she names that too.

”I happy,” she says out loud, a declaration of pleasure if I’ve ever heard one. She makes sure whoever is with her has heard her announcement by making eye contact and pausing before repeating, “I happy.” And we share a silent acknowledgment of this sweet peace.

At a conference this week, I overheard two new friends meeting for the first time. As they shook hands, one woman said to the other, “pleasure.” As in, it is a pleasure to meet you, as in it is a pleasure to see you, as in it is a pleasure to be here in this moment sharing space with you.

This weekly writing of OOH LA LA! is my attempt to share the same. It is my devotion to naming the pockets of goodness that can so easily get lost in the day. To be honest, it is the only way I know how to keep going, to keep living, to keep creating the world of my dreams. To you, I say “pleasure!” Thank you for being here.

OOH LA LA! which is to say “I happy.”

This week’s OOH LA LA! list includes: swimming in a basement hotel pool alone, the sound of cicadas, when you think your coffee is gone but then there’s one more sip.

One thing about me is, if I’m presented with the opportunity to put my body in a body of water, I will not say no. So on Tuesday, after a long day of interacting with people and feeling energetically drained, I got myself so quick to the swimming pool at the hotel where I’m staying. To my delight, I was alone! It’s true yes that swimming in a basement hotel pool alone was not the most aesthetically delicious pleasure, but the real goodness was the freedom to play and take up space. Like being on a California king-sized bed, I stretched out my arms wide, I kicked my legs, and tossed the water around, I floated on my back from end to end, gazing at the cement ceiling, the fluorescent lights as stars in my mind’s eye.

I’m in southern Ohio for the week, my home state, but no longer my home. I have a lot of feelings about being here, but the truth is I’m still smiling from the walk I took in the park at night after the rain where I heard the sound of cicadas! I forgot how much I love this sound, the singing softness that lines the inside of so many of my summer memories from childhood. I don’t know if there are cicadas in Brooklyn, but if there are, they don’t sound the way they do on a summer night in Ohio, and that’s something. Even sadness has a softness to it.

Drinking coffee is one of my top favorite comforts. It sounds trite to say that I love coffee, like a line from a 2012 Instagram bio (#coffee #catmom) but the passion runs deep. During one of this week’s long work days, I had a cup in hand and set it down to finish a task and when I returned, the cup was emptier than I remembered - sad! But then! I brought the cup to my lips, held my head way back, and was wonderfully surprised to find not just liquid but also chocolate syrup, all swirled into one incredible final oatmilk-coffee-chocolate gulp. Maybe there’s a lesson here about looking one more time, about not giving up, or maybe it’s just a reminder to savor it all, every last sip. Maybe it’s about knowing that the best things can come as a surprise even when you think all the goodness has gone.

Thanks for reading!

Reply to this email with 1-5 sentences about your current obsessions, passions, joys, and pleasures, or what is making you happy now!

XOXO,

LJ

P.S. Last week I shared a one-question survey to learn more about opportunities for us to interact and exchange energy and money to fund this labor of love. Thanks to all who responded! If you’d like to be part, please answer this one question here!

Cicadas and crickets are not the same, but hearing the sound of cicadas this week reminded me of this beautiful recording of the sound of crickets slowed down, which sounds like a human chorus. The sound of cicadas slowed down sounds like an electronic dance mix waiting to happen.