OOH LA LA! #66
PDA! + bumble bees + everything is green and dancing!
My cat now refuses to eat her food unless it is served with a side salad. Even if I’ve just prepared a fresh scoop of wet pate into her bowl, she will just stand there, staring at me until I add washed and torn pieces of kale and spinach to the mix.
She is resolute on what she wants, and while this makes me laugh, I have a lot of respect for her unwavering commitment to pleasure and preference. She is unapologetic in the pursuit of her own delight and joyfully indulges in the full experience each time. These are both central tenets of the OOH LA LA! philosophy, and I am inspired to remember this again and again.
To live an OOH LA LA! life is to be devoted to our own pleasures and preferences, to naming what is good and wonderful, and intentionally pursuing these things.
Wishing this for you! And for me!
This week’s OOH LA LA! list includes: public displays of affection, bumble bee, the color green!
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Say what you will, but I love public displays of affection (both as a participant and as a witness)! I was on the platform waiting for the Manhattan-bound F train when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple snuggle into each other in the sweetest tender embrace, and I swear you could feel the energy shift in the station. I think witnessing this is wonderful because it’s a real-time reminder that love is big and people are good, and to be enveloped in that energy as a bystander is a gift. So please, in defense of all that is right and holy and beautiful, please grab your lover’s hand while standing in the grocery line, please gently kiss your partner’s forehead while waiting for your coffees, please hug your friends tight and say I love you out loud often.
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I have officially seen my first bumble bee of the season! I saw her swirling around a rose bush and squealed with delight. The birds are all coming back too, and it feels exciting— like at the beginning of a school year when all your classmates have returned from summer vacation and everyone is in their first day of school outfits and eager to start anew. The birds and bees and bugs and trees are back baby, and I’m just here for the party! Its good to see you, bumble bee!
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Speaking of trees…most of the blooming things have now transformed from flowers into leaves and every street is full of the color green! I moved to my apartment in winter when trees were still sleeping, and now everything is alive and dancing! I smile as I walk down the green-tree-lined sidewalks and duck my head under low hanging branches, saying hello when the leaves kiss my cheek. Like the green-chlorophyll-everything, I too am powered by the sun and feel happy to be shining again.
“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” ―Emily Dickinson
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Thanks for reading!
As always, I’d love to know about your OOH LA LA! somethings.
Comment below or reply to this email with your own OOH LA LA! list or moment and I may share them in next issue! Feel free to include photos or art to accompany your description. I’d love to know your current wonders, pleasures, and delights!
XOXO,
LJ
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