Case of the Tuesdays over here
The way our custody schedule works, I mostly have the kids on weekdays – so when I found out I had the kids all three days this weekend, I got super excited and did the obvious thing: I overscheduled us up the wazoo. (I do this on the nights that I’m solo, too: I think, MUST DO ALL THE FUN THINGS! and end up watching half of sixteen different shows and staying up too late and feeling wildly unsatisfied about the whole event.) We had sleepovers. Korean BBQ lunches. Beach trips. Hot tub soaks. ALL THE FUN THINGS.
So: I’m exhausted. But all this activity also resulted in a bunch of interesting discoveries. Here, in no particular order, are a few of them.
1. There is a place in Thousand Oaks called Dojo Boom, and it is like a trampoline park on steroids. The place has trampolines, sure, but also obstacle courses, aerial silks (!!!!! YESSS), trapeze, a zip line, extreme dodgeball, twenty thousand foam pits, and a bazillion other things to jump off of/onto/into. I tend to spend my time at trampoline parks cocooned in a massage chair, but I literally couldn’t help myself: I bought all three of us passes, and it was me who was the saddest when our time was up.
You have to go.
2. I’m super into bellbottoms again. These are from Zara, but I’m in the market for a pair with a slightly bigger bell and a slightly higher waist. Suggestions appreciated!
3. You should not eat outside on Paradise Cove Beach, in Malibu. I mean it: Do not do this. On Saturday afternoon, Margo and I took our kids to a beachside cafe – you know, a place that theoretically encourages eating – and sat down with our burgers and grilled cheeses and such, and I am not exaggerating when I say that we were swarmed. SWARMED. Seagulls came down in actual herds, and literally grabbed sandwiches and pickles out of my children’s mouths. This was not dramatic at all, and definitely didn’t result in total and complete hysteria that will definitely not still be a topic of conversation in therapy twenty or thirty years from now. At least we’ve cleared up the question of what their phobia will be! #TheBirds
4. Related: Malibu is a funny place. (Current mantra: I will find my people…I will find my people…)
5. It is possible to lose a phone inside one’s own house. On Sunday morning, I woke up in a cold sweat because I had a sneaking suspicion that I had put my phone somewhere weird the night before, but could not for the life of me remember what weird place that might be. So I spent two entire hours taking apart each and every room in my home, and nope: nothing. The next thing we got to do on our lovely, relaxing Sunday morning was take a three-hour trip to the AT&T store. Whee! (On the plus side, I have the iPhone 11 now, and it’s great – I’m obsessed with that wide-angle lens, especially for house interiors.)
6. The Jumanji series is cinematic perfection. Oh, you think I’m kidding? I f-ing LOVE those movies. I saw the second one twice – in the theater! – and am mayyyybe going to have to go back and see number 3 again, because The Rock doing a Danny DeVito impression may be the best thing I’ll see this year.
7. Brian Platzer – who you likely haven’t heard of yet, but likely will very soon – just may be the next great American novelist. I was sent an advance copy of his new book, The Body Politic, and – to be honest – was kinda reluctant to dive in, because I’m so picky about the fiction I read. I usually operate on enthusiastic recommendations from others, and you cannot have a book recommended to you – enthusiastically or otherwise – if it’s not out yet. But last week I decided to give it a try, and snuggled up with the book and a blanket and a sunset…thereby kicking off a few days during which I was barely able to put the thing down in order to achieve other goals such as…you know…sleeping. Caring for my offspring. Watching The Bachelor. (You KNOW a book is good if I’ll put my beloved Bachelor on hold for it.)
The Body Politic is about a group of friends wrestling with careers, illnesses, partnerships, addictions, and love during the post 9/11 – and then later post-Trump – era, and brings to mind The Interestings, in that it’s sort of a coming-of-middle-age novel filled with the kinds of complicated, heartbreaking characters that make you want to read more slowly, because you don’t want them to exit your life at the last turn of the page. As with all truly great fiction, reading The Body Politic is such a visceral experience that every time you put it down you have to almost shake yourself back into reality. It’s officially joined Fleishman Is In Trouble, Three Women, and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone as one of my all-time favorite books. I’ll remind you to get it when it comes out in March (I already calendared this because you have to read it), but you can pre-order here.
