Watched: Lady Bird 🍿
Watched with Kristyn to cap our anniversary celebration; a moving film with a beautiful depiction of the bond between mother and daughter.
on our 13th wedding anniversary
“Anniversary” by Philip Appleman
Maybe it wasn’t strange to find
drums and cymbals where
there might have been violins, maybe
we couldn’t have known; besides,
would it have mattered?
Look at this hand, this arm:
the thick scar across the knuckles,
another in the palm, a ragged one
running along the forearm.
And you:
I know your scars at midnight
by touch.
Everything we’ve learned, we’ve picked up
by ear, a pidgin language
of the heart, just
enough to get by on:
we know the value of cacophony; how to measure
with a broken yardstick;
what to do with bruised fruit;
reading torn maps, we always
make it home, riding
on empty.
And whatever this thing is—palace?
cottage?—we remember
putting it up, every beam,
sighting it skew, making it plumb
eventually; and here it stands,
stone over rock, and on the simple hearth
is our own cricket; and in the walls
there are secret passages
leading to music
nobody else can hear; and somewhere
in a room that’s not yet finished
there are volumes in our own hand, telling
troubled tales, promises kept, and
promises
still to keep.
The Protestant church got rid of Laetare as well as Rogate and many of the other days for reasons I have never fully understood. It created a bland church calendar and liturgies du jour in the image of people who have been abstracted from place and history, who have no feel for the symbols and no memory of the stories. They live, work, and worship in climate-controlled buildings. They have largely adopted a digitalized language. Their daily routines override the natural rhythms and longings of life.
Finished reading: Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler 📚
Really helpful. Anyone’s communication skills would be enhanced in some way by reading this book.
Corrie’s enjoying Larson more than Kingsnorth
Finished reading: SPEED of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey, Rebecca R. Merrill, Stephen R. Covey 📚
I don’t usually prefer these kinds of books, and some parts were predictably cheesy and clichéd. Nevertheless, the big idea of the book is manifestly true: it really is all about trust. Covey’s definition of leadership is one of the best I’ve come across: “Getting results in a way that inspires trust.” I don’t think I’ll regret the time spent reading and reflecting on this all-important topic.
Currently reading: Biblical Authority after Babel by Kevin J. Vanhoozer 📚
Currently reading: Summer for the Gods by Edward J. Larson 📚
my girls will be proud: just dominated Crashy Cat
Corrie hasn’t made up her mind about the Machine yet
