Tag Archives: pizza

Scenes from Saturday + Sugar & Flour

Less than week left of eight grade for Cecilia. Which means less than a week of her returning home and my asking “How was your day?” and she responds, “Good.” “What did you do?” “Nothing.”

I realize that “Nothing” actually means “How am I supposed to answer that? Being fourteen is insane. Middle school is sorta insane. There are so many positive, exciting, hopeful, scary, sad, and disappointing things happening at the exact same time.”

So maybe I’m not asking the right question. Or maybe she’s tired of being asked. Maybe “How are you? or How was your day?” really are hard questions. Maybe I’ll think of better questions in high school.

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Scenes from Saturday + Munchkins & Meatballs

If you’ve read this blog even just a few times you know that Ally loves to craft. It comes up a lot. It will come up this week, too. I love to sneak down and just watch her from the stairs. I’ve learned more about art from watching her paint and draw than any class, podcast or expert. Now that we are collaborating on a book about a robot and a lost baguette, I get to see this up close.

She doesn’t think about starting or finishing or muses or process. She’s just doing stuff. It’s sort of magical. Sadly, it’s a mindset most kids seem to lose as they get older.

If you’re stuck on a project today or this week. Ask a kid. I guarantee they will have ideas.

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Scenes from Saturday + Pomp, Pollen & Pizza

The new book has been out in the world for a little over a month and that means reviews and feedback have been coming in and I realized recently that how I deal with that feedback has changed over the years.

I used to fear and cower from it. I’d have a knee jerk reaction to all of it. Any criticism couldn’t possibly be right. What did they know? I was the author. Now, I listen and I often cherish the flaws more than the praise.

What critics and readers often don’t like or find uncomfortable or different about a work is often the best and most interesting thing about it. Those are the parts worth digging into. Those are the parts that keep a work unique and individual.

They are not always right. Neither am I. But it’s worth listening to carefully.

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Scenes from Saturday + A.Blog

Cecilia has to pick her high school classes this week. Yeah, it took a hot minute for that to sink in initially.

If I could go back to my eighth grade self and give him one bit of advice it would be to dial back the stress and subsequent anxiety by a factor of 10. The “right” classes and the “right” school matter far less than the everyday habits that you develop during this time.

Those are far better indicators, and far better tools, to navigate through life.

Don’t believe me, eight grade self? Maybe you’ll listen to Leonard Cohen. Adolescents seem to gel with his vibe:

Sometimes when you no longer see yourself as the hero of your own drama, you know, expecting victory after victory, and you understand deeply that this is not paradise and you’re not gonna get it all straight.

I found that things got a lot easier when I no longer expected to win.

You understand that, you abandon your masterpiece, and you sink into the real masterpiece…

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Scenes from Saturday + Tubing & Table Talk

I spent the last week going over the edited manuscript for the new book. It might be the part of the process of writing that I enjoy the most. It dovetails nicely with my “fix-it” brain. See a problem, evalaute a problem, fix a problem. It’s a lot easier than the actual writing. Very few writers like that actual writing. They like having written.

But this fix-it mentality is a double-edged sword. Writing, or parenting, or life in general comes with expectations. Trouble can start when the expectations don’t match up with reality.

That stress between how we thought something would go and how it actual plays out can either make us or break us.

There is certainly possibility in that friction especially when you are trying to be creative but if you are parenting hanging on to those expectations will often lead to frustration.

I am trying very hard these days not to be quite so inflexible about those visions in my head and rather to pay attention to what’s in front of me and the possibilities of what I can do with it.

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Scenes from Saturday + Weights & Wine

On Valentine’s Day this week, Cecilia cleaned her sneakers and I thought about love. Stay with me for a moment. The cleaning was not just a cursory wipe down, either, it involved spray bottles, hair dryers, and copious amounts of paper towels. She put in the time and effort. In short, she cared.

We often think of love as leading to care, but I think the opposite is just, if not more, true. Care can lead us to love.

The author Alison Gopnik writes about parenting and children: “This caring changes us, and deepens our love. We don’t care for children because we love them. We love them because we care for them.”

This sort of blew my mind and I’m not even sure if it is true, but even if it isn’t, it is a very useful fiction, because it encourages us to action, not to passively wait for the feeling. Be the verb first.

Too much to take from a shoe cleaning?

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Scenes from Saturday + Pizza Presents

It was a jolting revelation to get an email reminder this week for Cecilia’s upcoming high school information night. As if my birthday wasn’t enough of a nudge that time was clearly accelerating.

By the end of the calendar year, we’ll have a high schooler. Yikes! Michelle then pointed out that we first met when she was just five years older than Ce is now. I put my fingers in my ears and ran out of the room.

After 45 years, if I could go back and give my younger, Cecilia-age self some advice it would be learn these four phrases and use them often: “I was wrong.” “I’m sorry.” “I don’t know.” and “I need help.”

No need to complicate things. Simplicity leads to wisdom.

Here’s my annual birthday list of things I was grateful for last year.

There’s no time to waste. On to Saturday!

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