It’s May which means spring has FINALLY arrived here in Minnesota which also means I should probably talk to you about what it feels like to once again see the world blanketed in bright green.
But what I really want to talk to you about is the Beatles.
Do you ever have that feeling like you’re watching something happen and you just know it's a big deal and you’re looking around hoping to have a witness alongside you so you practically whisper shout “is anyone else catching this??”
This is how I felt when Mike and I finally watched the Beatles special Get Back. Have you seen it? I feel like it should be required watching. But I won’t do that to you because I am far too overwhelmed myself with all the required watching I will never catch up on.
But in case you do need a new show, allow me to influence you. First of all, I admittedly forgot how incredible the Beatles music is. Second of all, they are true musicians. Their ability to play just about anything at all times just blows my mind. Third, it’s just amazing to have this kind of footage from so long ago and have it feel current. The cinematography is incredible
All that, though, is not the biggest thing for me. The biggest thing came in a very small moment, as big things tend to do.
If you haven’t seen it, the quick tl;dr is the entire special is one month of filming in January 1969 when the group was writing their next album with the hopes of releasing the new music at a concert at the end of the month. They are literally writing music throughout the entire series, which side note completely stressed me out because they seemed entirely unfocused. I kept wondering when the mom was going to show up to tell them to stop messing around and clean up their room. And then I remembered they are the Beatles and they can do anything.
Anyway, that small big moment I promised you...so at one point John and George are chatting with producers trying to figure out how they are going to do this concert and in the background you can hear Paul messing around on the piano. At first its easy to assume this is just another one of their older songs, because they pop in and out of their old music all the time while jamming (hence while I was so stressed. FOCUS!) But then…
“Is that ‘Let it Be’?” Mike noticed it first.
“Is it?”I listened closer. Yes. It was “Let It Be”, one of the most iconic Beatles songs of all time. And then a quick google search later I realized ‘Let It Be’ was not an old song at this moment. It was new, and would later appear on this album.
“Is Paul just casually playing ‘Let it Be' in the background and they aren’t even paying attention??” I nearly shouted at the television. And then I texted my friend Amy because I knew she was a big fan of this special and this was one of the moments when I wanted to bring in a witness. She agreed that my response was appropriate.
I continued to listen to Paul fumble around on the piano until I realized I was singing along to words that HE HAD NOT EVEN WRITTEN YET!!! I’m singing “speaking words of wisdom” and Paul is all “nah nah nah nah nah nah, Let it Be.” Like he didn’t even know the words to his own song that will one day become one of the most iconic Beatles songs, if not most iconic songs of all time??!!
(Am I being dramatic? Maybe. I don’t know statistics. But I feel like you can’t argue that’s a really really great song.)
Needless to say, I was shook.
Here’s the thing…we know how to celebrate great art. We get lost in the words of a great story, take in images that leave us breathless, listen to songs that bury themselves so deeply into our souls that we never forget them. But all that beautiful art is polished art. It’s a finished product.
What we forget is that once upon a time, that art was just an idea. It was just a few notes on a piano–clunky, unfinished, unknown even, to both the consumer and the creator.
There’s beauty to witness there, too.
I’m thinking now about my own unfinished work. I feel like so much of my life right now is in that very green, early stage of creation–long form writing projects, career curiosities, an ever changing body. It’s not clear to me what any of these messy beginnings will be one day, or if they will be anything at all.
But what if there IS something here? What if what I’m working on right now—all these ideas and these curiosities and these SFD*s—what if they actually DO become something bigger? I don’t know if there will be an answer to this question. But I do know that bearing witness to life through the lens of possibility and awe feels right to me. I want to pay attention to the sounds that echo in the background and wonder if maybe they could be something one day. I want to sing even when I don’t know the words yet.
I am sitting outside as I write this to you. Trees that were only bare branches just last week are now fluffy with early green leaves and pink balls just waiting to burst. There’s a bee buzzing around the spots where lilies and bee balm and goldenrod will be one day in July. One day, but not yet. I feel bad for that little be. There are no flowers just yet. But maybe he knows. Maybe he’s just checking in on his favorite lunch spots, buzzing with excitement as they say, whispering words of wisdom to me, while together we bear witness to the beauty in the not yet but one day.
I guess this letter was about spring after all.
Cheers, friends, to whatever words of wisdom spring whispers to you today.
a series where I string together all the things I’ve been meaning to tell you.
More on this later, but Inventing Anna entered my life this month so I’m bringing Anna Delvey energy to this conversation.
Speaking of the Beatles…
As I mentioned, I’m reacquainting myself with the Beatles music.
Leo, my youngest, feels like the only kid I have left for which I can brainwash into being a Beatles fan. I got him into the Beat Bugs show so that is helping. I’m also in search of Beatles vinyls to add to my collection. What are your favorite albums?
Speaking of music…
I know I mentioned this cocktail cookbook a couple months ago, but I recently got the second edition, mostly because I saw my girl Alanis was featured, and it is too good not to share again. The marriage of cocktails and music is just so brilliant and the book itself is so pretty to look through. I’m already dreaming of the listen parties I want to host in the future.
I’m very obsessed with Lizzo’s new song, About Damn Time. The lyrics are a holy hymn, which is likely blasphemous, and yet somehow I feel like God would be okay with a woman admitting she’s been down and is ready to pump herself up. Watching the internet recreate her dance is one of my favorite things. It’s enough to make me come out of my own funk and get dancing.
Speaking of coming out of a funk...
I’ve been feeling the need to bring some life to my closet.
I know I do. Here’s the truth: I love black and gray. I always will. But sometimes after months of clothing that makes me hibernate, spring comes along and I want to be loud. It started with this blazer that I slipped on randomly at Target and didn’t want to take off. And because I loved the color so much I decided to add these shorts to my summer mix. Then when I was looking for some basic white sneakers, I accidentally clicked on these shoes and decided I needed them. All of these things pair best with my basic black and gray wardrobe, but with the much needed pop of color I crave in the spring.
To keep me inspired in the closet, I’m finding so much joy in watching Elise Fox re-exploring her own closet to fall back in love with her changing body. Elise’s ownership of the beauty that can be a changed body is reminding how clothes that fit right feel right, and thus look right, too.
Continuing my fashion curiosity, I recently binged the show And Just Like That, and, well, just like that, I become OBSESSED with style once again. This insta account catalogs all the fashion. It’s making me think that I would have a blast shopping vintage stores to put together an outfit. I’m putting this on my curiosity list. If only I didn’t have such a #momlife, and also I had tons of money. (We can’t all be Anna.)
Speaking of curiosity list…
Early in the pandemic, when I wanted to find a silver lining, I told myself that if I ever tested positive for Covid, I would treat myself to an endless show binge. Then last month I mentioned not having watched enough shows to talk about. I think you see where this is going. Yes, that very day, Covid showed up in our house. Whomp whomp. So at first I was like…
But then after a good self pity whine fest I did what I had to do—I turned to the internet and said “Don’t be selfish. Entertain me.”
First up, an Inventing Anna binge. This one was fun. While I thought the last two episodes were boring, I loved following the crazy power fueled world of the rich, and was very entertained by Anna-isms.
Also on the list of must watch was the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That. I don’t know if my expectations were so low from the negative response, or if I’m just that much of a SATC fangirl but I truly loved this listening experience. The clothes, the return to favorite characters, the exploration of life after 50, the CLOTHES. I adored it. I’m ready for more.
Now, for a less interesting update, I’m gonna be super honest here and say kid movies during family movie night has been kinda disappointing lately.
But recently we watched The One and Only Ivan and Ramona and Beezus and I thought both were wonderful and I felt the need to share in case you too are over the Disney movie scene.
Finally, I just started watching Julia and it is reminding me how much I LOVED her memoir My Life in France. And also how much I love food entertainment.
Speaking of food…
Thankfully covid didn’t take my sense of taste. That would have been a true travesty. I’ve been craving taste of spring. We made this farro risotto with the spring combo and gobbled it up.
You should know if you don’t already that we take pizza very seriously in our house. We never skip a Friday pizza night, we often make our own using this recipe book, we even have a very specific gadget just for cutting pizza (yes you need it.) And even when we eat frozen pizza, we’re bedazzling it with more. I recently topped a frozen cheese pizza with a salad mix of arugula, parm, lemon juice, pine nuts and plenty of salt and pepper then finished off with a light drizzle of hot honey. It makes for some of the best pizza outside of NYC.
Speaking of NYC…
When I saw Shauna Neiquist was coming out with a new book right around my birthday, and the title I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet sounded like a new mantra I needed, I knew this book was for me. What I didn’t realize was it was going to remind me how much I would love to up and move to NYC, if even for just a year. I loved how Shauna explored a difficult time in her life landing on more a way to be than on any real answers. But my favorite part was what NYC taught her.
I’m weird but you like me? I don’t know. That transition maybe doesn’t work. What I mean is in the creating department words have been…sparse. But you know I always have time for some Taylor Swift inspiration like this 1989 album recreation and cocktail. No one is surprised by this choice.
And maybe words have been hard but this quiet time in my head has been good for jumping into Laura Tremain’s One Day May challenge. I love a prompt, and I’m trying (tryyyyyyying) not to overthink it to much. Would you believe I am completely caught up on all the prompts at this point?? Who even am I?
I hate to be predictable me, but I’m gonna leave you with some Mary Oliver. I found this poem on a particularly hard day, and sent it to a friend having a particularly hard day and I think these words could help all of us. Notice the highlighted section that spoke to me. Maybe it will speak words of wisdom to you, too. See you next month!
~ “What Can I Say” from Swan by Mary Oliver ~
What can I say that I have not said before? So I’ll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinishable story and you are somewhere in it and it will never end until all ends.
Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still. I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four, and the leaf is singing still.
