Revelations
Hi Hi Hi! How has your week been?
This was the first full week of school for my kids, and it seems, a return to the “normal” that was disrupted by the pandemic. Sports, after-school activities, and social events are all back on our family calendar, and it feels (to me at least) like time is speeding up again: in a blink it will be Thanksgiving, then Christmas…
Right on cue, it no longer feels like summer: the mornings are crisp and cool, and the days are sunny and warm. The grass is emerald green (no longer the crispy brown it turned after a hot dry spell in August) and the trees are showing the very first signs of autumnal colors.
It’s not quite time for fires inside, but it’s perfect weather for sitting in a sunny spot on a window seat, or by a firepit outside.
I started the week in a state of serious US Open tennis withdrawal after having spent most of last weekend glued to the TV, watching the finals. I wanted more tennis entertainment, so I eased my way out of it by finishing Carrie Soto is Back, a tennis-themed novel, and watching Citizen Ashe, the HBO documentary about Arthur Ashe and his extraordinary life as a groundbreaking Black sportsman, activist, and exceptional human being.
And then I found something else to obsess over: exchanged my tennis obsession for something else:a new one: The Patient, the new show I mentioned last week, where Steve Carell plays a therapist trying to help a serial killer. Yowza! Steve Carell is excellent, as is the entire cast, and so far, I’ve watched each episode with bated breath, terrified as to what might happen. My biggest disappointment is that each episode is less than 30 minutes long, leaving me desperately wanting more!
And I’ve started reading In The Early Times, a memoir by Tad Friend, a New Yorker writer, which I would not have considered until I read a shocking, moving, and incredibly vulnerable Instagram post by his wife, Amanda Hesser. If you haven’t heard of her, Amanda is a founder of the very successful Food52 website, as well as the author of a number of cookbooks, including Genius Recipes, one of my go-to’s. Amanda also wrote one of my favorite memoirs of all time, Cooking for Mr Latte, which chronicled (with recipes!) the story of how she met, dated, and fell in love with Tad Friend. The book came out in 2004, the year I got engaged, and it was my standard engagement gift for anyone I knew who loved New York City and food (which is basically every one of my friends!).
Anyway, Amanda’s Instagram post was not the standard “please buy my wonderful husband’s book” sort of thing. Instead, she revealed that Tad had been unfaithful, that they are staying together, and that his new book details all of this. Which, for me, as I’m guessing it will be for other fans of Cooking For Mr. Latte who fell in love with them and their love story through the book, was a shocking plot twist. Amanda went on to explain why she encouraged her husband to write honestly about their marriage in the memoir:
I wasn't interested in standing by him and keeping quiet. I wanted the truth made clear, as he did, and that led to him writing an honest, sometimes painful memoir. It's rare to have a man explore his vulnerabilities and own up to his mistakes in a marriage, and maybe it's strange for me to be open to him sharing this, but it felt like the right thing to do. I'm not ashamed of what happened; quite the opposite. The discovery has been an awakening for us both, and an opportunity for deeper connection and happiness. My life, which felt utterly derailed a year ago, feels like it is on track for the very first time.
What I’d really like to read is Amanda’s own version of the story, which I hope she will write one day.
Speaking of books, one of my favorites of this year so far is This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. Ostensibly it’s a novel about time travel, but really it’s about the love between parents and children, and very specifically about the author’s relationship with her own father. Emma Straub’s dad died on September 4th, and she wrote about their relationship, his work, his death, and how he inspired her to write This Time Tomorrow in this moving (and funny) essay in New York Magazine.
OK, time to move on from depressing topics and on to something lighter: have you seen the This Is Like Magic Instagram account, where people share stories about the ways they create emotional connections with family and friends? Check out this adorable post, about writing down the memorable things kids say, and storing them in jars. As the mother of four said:
When I'm having a below average day, I reach in and pull out a quote.. and suddenly I'm laughing and remembering a moment I might have easily forgotten. The kids love the jars, too. I find them sometimes with their quotes all poured out, reading them to each other.
And did you catch Jennifer Coolidge joyfully boogeying to the music that was meant to get her off the Emmy’s stage when she accepted her award for The White Lotus? She’s going to be in the second season of The White Lotus, which apparently comes out next month, and is set in Italy. Can’t wait!
Well, that’s it for me this week.
I hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend coming up - and here’s something to get you in the mood: Lionel Richie’s All Night Long music video. I found it, while doing research (= procrastinating) for my novel. It’s quite a treat!
xoxo
Amelia