OOH LA LA! #41
It's my first time! + cat hair, cheeks, licking fingers
I spent some time with my two-year-old niece this week (2.5, as she would say). In the presence of a toddler, it’s hard not to see the wonder of everything.
She liked to play this game where she pretended to do something new, like pressing a button on a toy she’s played with a hundred times, or exploring her bedroom. She would say, “It’s my first time!” and then move her body into a small, fearful shape. “I’m nervous,” she would say.
Even though she was pretending, I kept thinking about how it is her first time at so much, and how that’s true for me and you too. To be a toddler is to be a beginner, and the same is true for my brother and sister-in-law, in their new journey as parents. The same is true for me, every day, making my way through the world having never done this before, in this body, in this place.
It’s my first time!
I am thinking of a Sufi Muslim prayer, “Lord, increase my bewilderment.” That’s the entire prayer, and it is what I’m after too.
May my eyes continue to be opened to the awe of it all. May we remember the mystery of being here, that we may extend grace in the face of so much uncertainty. It’s your first time too!
May you be bewildered.
This week’s OOH LA LA! list includes: cat hair on my clothes, laughing until my face hurts, eating edamame out of the pod.
My cat is white and my clothes are often black, so most of the time, I have visible cat hair on my clothes. I don’t love this when I’m trying to make a sophisticated first impression, but while traveling this week, I found myself delighted to find a few stray cat hairs on my pants, a little token for the road, from home. I like to think my cat is intent to leave her hairs on my pants, like a wedding ring, so that other cats in the world will know I’m taken.
Laughing is good. Laughing until my face hurts is really good. I did this several times this week while visiting my family in Indianapolis and sharing space with people I love. I laughed and laughed after a Target run with my sister-in-law and two-year-old niece, in the basement of my brother’s home, at a play with a powerful story and dark humor, in the park with neighborhood friends. After laughing so hard, my cheeks feel the way my thighs do after a 45-minute barre class, tired and sore, but in the best possible way.
My current favorite snack is edamame. I roast them from frozen to toasted in the air fryer for 10 minutes and then drench them in olive oil, sea salt and chili-lime Tajin. The best place to eat them is on the couch, with an empty bowl and a napkin by my side, so that I can properly discard of the pod after I’ve sucked out the pea. For me, the joy is swirling the snack in the olive oil puddle, making sure to soak up enough salt and seasoning for each bite, and then slowly eating the edamame out of the pod. When all the pods are gone, don’t fret - there is still seasoned oil to lick from fingers. I could eat this every day.
From OLL readers…
Cory: I planted 13 native trees and shrubs today in my yard. Cutting down invasive plants and restoring my little patch of dirt to something more in harmony with other plants becomes more exciting the more I get involved. It’s an act of planning, dirty work and faith in the magical combination of nature, God, and science. The saplings look so scrawny they’re nearly invisible. I dream of what they’ll become—an ever changing gallery of nature’s beauty.
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Reply to this email with a few sentences about your OOH LA LA! moments or experiences and I’ll share in the next email!
XOXO,
LJ
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
by Mary Oliver
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