Memory. Where to start? I’ve written so much about it. About the mysterious alchemy whereby small moments, inconsequential as we lived them, become significant, weighty memories, full of recollected details. About the way that certain songs can transport me back, instantly and vividly, to the past. About the occasional awareness of the memory of a [...]
December 25 – Photo – a present to yourself Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and [...]
My friend and HBS classmate Chris and I have connected through our blogs in the last year. I did not know Chris at school, though I knew who he was, and my impression was that he was very bright and very authentically happy. I assumed he would have no interest in someone with as little [...]
How do I love you two? Let me count the ways. I love you some enormous amount that is derived by a complicated equation. The inputs to the equation include eight children, an infinite number of trips to Costco, two hundred Halloween decorations, 14 personalized red sweatbands, 30th, 35th, and 40th birthday parties, Southside mix, [...]
I’m off this morning to Florida to spend the weekend with my friends from Princeton. There are a couple of notable absences, but there will be a large group of us and I am eager for two days in such familiar and joyful company. We all knew each other when we were becoming who we [...]
I am back from an evening of old and new friends, listening to the rain, wistful and thoughtful. I met my dear friend Trintje for a glass of wine. I don’t see her nearly enough but when I do we slip right back into the comfortable rapport of old friends. We know each others’ backstories, [...]
Dear Q, How is it possible that this picture, at the best 21st birthday party ever (sunflowers + live music + beer + magic light = heaven) was taken sixteen years ago? No, no, no. Impossible. Also impossible: that bleached jeans and huge nubby sweaters ever seemed like good sartorial choices to me! I wrote [...]
I’ve watched this many times now. Each time I end up with tears rolling down my face. It’s worth the time to watch it. We all need someone who thinks we’re truly amazing. I know this as much as I know anything. I think, again, to Bindu’s excellent post several months ago that said clearly [...]
Happy Birthday, Hadley Sending you all my love, halfway across the country, and looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks. We met 14 years ago this fall, which seems amazing to me. You were – and are – so impeccably elegant that it took me a long time to believe that there was, [...]
I had lunch on Sunday with four of my dear friends from college. Everybody had a baby with them: one 4.5 month old, 2 2 month olds, and 1 baby in utero 2 days overdue. I had Grace. All of these friends have older children, but on Sunday it was striking to me to look [...]
