Hello, brilliant, gorgeous, kind person,

Yesterday, I woke up late, I worked from home.  Wynn was in LA with me because someone needed to do some handy work and well, I’m not great with electricity.  So Wynn was changing light fixtures.  When he needed a second set of hands and I stopped rolling my eyes at the request, I was the assistant, the sous chef, as you will (because I took my job VERY seriously).  I found it interesting that while I was on my tiptoes, holding a light fixture with my arm fully outstretched, I could swear that we would be faster if only I was the one with the powertools.  So, lucky for me, when I asked if I could do the next one, he obliged, of course.  And I got up there, drill in hand, and I was fine - Dad taught me well - but I realized that I was a little out of practice and I wasn’t perhaps as fast as I thought I would be.  This handyman thing isn’t just some walk in the park.  We laughed together, both with me and at me.

After Wynn took the powertools back, we finished in record time.  So much so that we had enough time to do one of my most favorite things - the “pop by.”  The unannounced, knock on the door, stay for 15 minutes while someone is doing laundry or cooking dinner, to the friends that you’re close enough with that the “pop by” is not stalker-ish.  Luckily, we have such friends in LA, and well, it was 15 minutes of lovely connection time with Christina, who was strangely sans baby for the moment.  It was lovely.

OK, Lauren, I hear you say.  Great “story.”  What pseudo psychology are you going to throw at us this time?

Well, my dear reader, not sure if this is going to be enough pseudo psychology shoved down your throat for you, but here goes:  I sat down to write this and I said to myself, wow, Lauren, today was nothing special.  What are you going to give to your Ximmys? And I thought about the insufferable Henry David Thoreau writing about his everyday life.  And I thought about the artists finding the beauty in the mundane.  And then, I remembered that I had the pleasure of laughing with Wynn, of reliving memories of assisting my father, of feeling useful and powerful as a kid with a drill who knew what a Phillips head screwdriver is.  And seeing our friend, for no reason other than that we had the time and were kind of in the neighborhood.  What a joy to look back on a day and find those moments.

This picture of me and Dad came up on the parents’ digital frame and yes I took a picture of it.  Look at Dad’s very 80s look! The jacket, the watch, the glasses, the mustache, the jet black hair! And who put wallpaper on the ceiling! (My parents said it was not them.) Also he’s like 23 years old here.  I can’t.

Maybe I’m becoming insufferable too, who knows.  But once I noticed I realized that I had a great day! Cheers to many great days for all of us, in 2024!

Love always, 

L

THANKS FOR READING!