Observables #23

on Mary Karr and getting grateful...in the bunker

Here is my list of things that will keep me from despairing this holiday season as Omicron roars into our life before 2022 is nigh. Into the bunker we go.

Obviously I don’t need this in my covid bunker, but I continue to appreciate Farm Rio as eye candy. SO MUCH WEARABLE COLOUR.

Or this rug. Why not wear it?

lit by Mary Karr—an emotional autobiography about her fight with alcoholism, all while raising her little boy. A particularly moving moment in the book for me is when various people are encouraging her to get more grateful. Just get down on your knees, Mare, her friend Lux beseeches her. Say thank you, and things will get better for you—your marriage, your poetry…

(Could this not apply to all of us?)

And this quotation from children’s author Kyo Maclear suggesting that on this winter solstice we “rest, reset, dissolve…resolve?” And by resolve she invokes the Latin, which means to loose and set free. So…I’m going to find things to set free in the bunker. 10 days of dissolving!

This Mozart adagio by Arvo Pärt which is good for said dissolving. I might do it on my heated bathroom floor. Sometimes I even write in there because the warmth takes the edge off the fear that can creep in when I start to type. Thank you, floor. Also, hot water bottles down my pants? A microwavable Warmie? I’ll try anything to stay safe and warm in the bunker.

And finally, this episode from The Daily. Because you know what helps you reframe your own bad situation? Someone else’s worse situation. It’s just the truth. When “N’s” escape from Afghanistan is thwarted, she wonders what she can even do with this life she has been given. Given all her constraints, who could take her life instead? N’s narration is heartbreaking. And you will certainly feel fucking grateful for your life now!

Happy Holidays from my bunker to yours!

We are taking a two week holiday break from our Sister On! reframing. Stay tuned for our first episode back on January 5. Have you signed up for the Sister On! newsletter?