Maybe It’s "Just a Sick Person" Talking.

"We care so little about...."

And our week is done!

Wow… weird. Did it feel like an entire month for anyone else, or just me?

Today is a Part Four, concluding and rounding off Part One and Two and Three.

As I hope to always lovingly remind you - though you can skip ahead to the new words below the line:

First, if you ever get sick of having a busy Inbox, you can unsubscribe from emails from Susbtack but still be a subscribed reader by checking things out on your own timeline using the website or the app. (I hate too many emails so… I get it)

Second, if you need a scholarship? Just ask!

Third, Word Nerds who give even just $5 a month help make that possible.

And lastly…

I truly need your support, use your support, cherish your support, and won’t let it go to waste!

xo

I love watching those “productive day” reels and videos and posts that others make.

I love them a lot, actually. But…

I also know that we need to see the full picture in someone’s life or we compare without repair.

I failed a lot this week.

I had a large family emergency that I can’t list here, but it meant my partner and I had a lot of scramblepanic and we are far from out of the woods. (Life is life. It always has balls that curve. Yes. I want to leave that sentence like that.)

I accidentally bit a couple “stitches worth” into my tongue while talking to some musical theatre students, and hid it like a pro… but it was truly gross enough to warrant its own shout out here. It hurt to eat all week and my mouth was full of blood for hours after- Gnarly. I wish I’d done it surfing or something cool instead of like “can’t chew gum and talk at the same time”. (I once broke my finger teaching students and hid it in the moment so I’m weirdly good at this skill?)

I replied to absolutely no messages. My texts are in the 300s, my DMs are equivalent, and my Inbox is a black hole. But the only way to survive last week, was to compartmentalize and take one step at a time.

Our phones own us.

Work hours don’t exist anymore.

If we copy/paste a post online and schedule it, but can’t reply to someone’s text while driving, they’ll mention it.

“Well, you were able to post.”

We care so little about each other’s ability to unplug these days.

I miss alarm clocks that didn’t pull us into the vortex of texts appearing overnight.

I miss landlines (or, TTY for we Deaf) and “don’t call during dinner time”.

I’ve said this all before but I want to keep saying it! Because I think we all deserve the reminder that we all deserve the right to reply as soon as we can, but not be policed and judged for time that someone else can’t actually see from what they’re tracking online; Nor can they see the nuance of what’s going on behind everyone’s scene.

I want us to keep messaging each other.

Send the text. Write the email. Give the loving words.

But wouldn’t it be lovely if each felt like writing a letter to your loving family during war eras, and happily awaiting reply?

Instead, we fume at what we cannot see, or we read between lines that don’t exist.

Message me.

And I’ll hopefully message you (?)

But know that if or when I do, unless it’s marked as urgent or critical… you’re my pen pal, and I want the best for you!

Remind everyone you love something along these lines today.

Landline Etiquette is painfully missing from our culture nowadays…

But maybe that’s just a sick person talking?

Maybe that’s just because sometimes, if I’m not replying - it’s because I’m throwing up. Or because my eyes are so blurry I literally cannot see the phone.

Maybe it’s just a sick person talking.

But maybe…

We all need a slower, kinder, more patient pace.

Thank you for a beautiful week together.

Hey, guess what?

If you’re reading this: We are both still alive right now on planet earth.

Thanks for being alive with me… and most of all, alive and reading.

Yours,

B