Working a bit in advance....
[TORI]
Hello Tori!! Yes, it has been a while hasn't it... but... you'd have to change your email to get off this Christmas letter list lol (or ask me to take you off - I'm not an asshole! ;)
I am SO happy to hear that you and Steven are still together! I remember seeing the two of you so much in love. Not having heard any updates about the wedding, I'd worried something had gone wrong. It turns out that actually, everything was going super RIGHT! I don't think you'll ever regret choosing to get out of debt first. Mike and I managed - with lots of help from family! - to get married and go on a honeymoon without any debt ourselves. I'd paid off the last of my student debt 2 years before that... it gave us room... to save up for the absolutely horrific expense of having a child, lol! ^^; Whether or not you and Steven ever choose to do THAT adventure yourselves, living happily within your means is one of the best ways to shore up all kinds of mental health.
Yeah, I hear you about the health effects of quarantine. I spent 20 hours a day in my bedroom for almost 3 months. By the end of it I was starting to lose my emotional equilibrium... thankfully... that lovely coworking space I'd found back in February re-opened! I am back in the office now - the only one here, lol, so it's actually quite safe - and my mental health is back on track! :) I walk at least an hour per day, as part of my commute and getting lunch. I really hope you can keep it up! Life is so much better this way!
And - GOOD FOR YOU for deleting Facebook! I've considered it more than a few times myself, even though I've never had anything nearly as horrific happen to me. (I'm so, so sorry about the way you were treated. There's no excuse.) In the end, I would lose too many connections to people I don't have any other way of contacting. But my finger is always on the trigger, lol.
I hope you and Steven has as good of the rest of this year as possible. Next year's letter will be MUCH shorter, lol. Take care of yourselves!!
[BETH]
BETH!!! So good to hear from you too! And back at 'cha, lol.
Your cat is sooooo cute <3 All the fuzzy snuggles, all of them...
Yeah! My brother Paul drove off with the trailer on July 4, and my sister-in-law Kat is following after him by plane in mid-August! She had to work around her brother's schedule, who is accompanying her, because they needed two people to bring two cats ^^; I'll forward your contact info to them! I think you'll find you have a lot in common (cute cats, vegan, blond hair... lol). Thanks so much for offering!! :)
If you end up talking to Chris before I do (because I suck at keeping all the plot threads of my life in order off of the page, ugh) tell him that I have been planning to email him for over a month! I've just been spending 100% of my free writing time on this 'Christmas' tome, lol. I am also debating which books should be on the potential list of book club reading fun time, lol... I'll do it! Eveeeeeeentually!! ^^;
Don't worry Beth - I've been spending lots of time in the sun, and I feel super strong! Summer is my period of STRENGTH! Saving it all up for the winter...
[LIZ]
Liz! I was hoping you would respond! I'm so glad to hear from you :)
Yes, we should meet at some point in the future - it's a bit difficult now (2-year-old CANNOT social distance) but the next time you are in the area, please let me know, I would LOVE to have (socially distant) coffee!!
I actually spent the Fourth of July a bit... unusually... I decided that I would make a bunch of posters reminding people to WEAR MASKS to save themselves and the economy, as OR's cases are ticking up, and put them all up over 5 or 6 neighborhoods! Picture attached, to prove it :) I kind of felt like, this year, I'm doing patriotism MY way, yeah? In a way that could be interpreted as a giant middle finger to the assholes in charge of us - but also, I hope, did some good.
I would love to hear the story of your year, Liz, no matter how long it takes you to compose it. It took forever for me to write this letter - I agonized over its lateness pretty much every second after Christmas - and my progress was excruciatingly slow. But since this also doubles as cheap therapy, and also as my main contact with the majority of the people I've met over the course of my life, it was essential to slog on anyway.
May you and yours be well, and I look forward to hearing from you again :)
[LEX]
LEX!! :D It makes my day to hear back from YOU!
Look, dude, you don't have to read the letter lol. It is a tome. It is something like 15,000 words. I used it as a free therapy dump. It's not worth it. Go out in the sun! Enjoy the summer!!
I hear you on the not-believing-things-get-better part. Not quite the same experience, but I don't think I really understood how much things could... change... when I was a younger person. I honestly have no idea what the rest of this year will bring. I'm relying on all my history reading to give me some suggestions. But we'll see! ^^;
Yeah, I actually spent 4th of July doing a poster campaign, lol... put up 100 of 'em around town. Picture attached for proof! Felt more patriotic then... almost everything else I could have been doing on the holiday lol.
But hey - did you hear a judge just ordered the oil pipeline they smashed through Native land in South Dakota closed and emptied?? Some good news! We could all use a bit of that :)
Be well, Lex! See ya around these parts in 6 months or so! ;)
Hello Tori!! Yes, it has been a while hasn't it... but... you'd have to change your email to get off this Christmas letter list lol (or ask me to take you off - I'm not an asshole! ;)
I am SO happy to hear that you and Steven are still together! I remember seeing the two of you so much in love. Not having heard any updates about the wedding, I'd worried something had gone wrong. It turns out that actually, everything was going super RIGHT! I don't think you'll ever regret choosing to get out of debt first. Mike and I managed - with lots of help from family! - to get married and go on a honeymoon without any debt ourselves. I'd paid off the last of my student debt 2 years before that... it gave us room... to save up for the absolutely horrific expense of having a child, lol! ^^; Whether or not you and Steven ever choose to do THAT adventure yourselves, living happily within your means is one of the best ways to shore up all kinds of mental health.
Yeah, I hear you about the health effects of quarantine. I spent 20 hours a day in my bedroom for almost 3 months. By the end of it I was starting to lose my emotional equilibrium... thankfully... that lovely coworking space I'd found back in February re-opened! I am back in the office now - the only one here, lol, so it's actually quite safe - and my mental health is back on track! :) I walk at least an hour per day, as part of my commute and getting lunch. I really hope you can keep it up! Life is so much better this way!
And - GOOD FOR YOU for deleting Facebook! I've considered it more than a few times myself, even though I've never had anything nearly as horrific happen to me. (I'm so, so sorry about the way you were treated. There's no excuse.) In the end, I would lose too many connections to people I don't have any other way of contacting. But my finger is always on the trigger, lol.
I hope you and Steven has as good of the rest of this year as possible. Next year's letter will be MUCH shorter, lol. Take care of yourselves!!
[BETH]
BETH!!! So good to hear from you too! And back at 'cha, lol.
Your cat is sooooo cute <3 All the fuzzy snuggles, all of them...
Yeah! My brother Paul drove off with the trailer on July 4, and my sister-in-law Kat is following after him by plane in mid-August! She had to work around her brother's schedule, who is accompanying her, because they needed two people to bring two cats ^^; I'll forward your contact info to them! I think you'll find you have a lot in common (cute cats, vegan, blond hair... lol). Thanks so much for offering!! :)
If you end up talking to Chris before I do (because I suck at keeping all the plot threads of my life in order off of the page, ugh) tell him that I have been planning to email him for over a month! I've just been spending 100% of my free writing time on this 'Christmas' tome, lol. I am also debating which books should be on the potential list of book club reading fun time, lol... I'll do it! Eveeeeeeentually!! ^^;
Don't worry Beth - I've been spending lots of time in the sun, and I feel super strong! Summer is my period of STRENGTH! Saving it all up for the winter...
[LIZ]
Liz! I was hoping you would respond! I'm so glad to hear from you :)
Yes, we should meet at some point in the future - it's a bit difficult now (2-year-old CANNOT social distance) but the next time you are in the area, please let me know, I would LOVE to have (socially distant) coffee!!
I actually spent the Fourth of July a bit... unusually... I decided that I would make a bunch of posters reminding people to WEAR MASKS to save themselves and the economy, as OR's cases are ticking up, and put them all up over 5 or 6 neighborhoods! Picture attached, to prove it :) I kind of felt like, this year, I'm doing patriotism MY way, yeah? In a way that could be interpreted as a giant middle finger to the assholes in charge of us - but also, I hope, did some good.
I would love to hear the story of your year, Liz, no matter how long it takes you to compose it. It took forever for me to write this letter - I agonized over its lateness pretty much every second after Christmas - and my progress was excruciatingly slow. But since this also doubles as cheap therapy, and also as my main contact with the majority of the people I've met over the course of my life, it was essential to slog on anyway.
May you and yours be well, and I look forward to hearing from you again :)
[LEX]
LEX!! :D It makes my day to hear back from YOU!
Look, dude, you don't have to read the letter lol. It is a tome. It is something like 15,000 words. I used it as a free therapy dump. It's not worth it. Go out in the sun! Enjoy the summer!!
I hear you on the not-believing-things-get-better part. Not quite the same experience, but I don't think I really understood how much things could... change... when I was a younger person. I honestly have no idea what the rest of this year will bring. I'm relying on all my history reading to give me some suggestions. But we'll see! ^^;
Yeah, I actually spent 4th of July doing a poster campaign, lol... put up 100 of 'em around town. Picture attached for proof! Felt more patriotic then... almost everything else I could have been doing on the holiday lol.
But hey - did you hear a judge just ordered the oil pipeline they smashed through Native land in South Dakota closed and emptied?? Some good news! We could all use a bit of that :)
Be well, Lex! See ya around these parts in 6 months or so! ;)