On nothing in particular, today
Dear Friend,
I stayed outside in the sun all day, and I can’t imagine anything better I could have done for myself this Sunday; it was great to be accompanied by B. who is currently visiting me - I probably bombarded her mind with information about my favourite tree and how we should lay under it for a while, in the perfect, cozy space between its roots.
There are many remedies I have found for world peace lately, too bad we’re all too busy to pay attention, stay connected, etc, but if you want information though, I am happy to have a great exchange about it.
My brain was quiet for a little while, but on the days it wasn’t, I thought a lot about what it is to be a human being, mistakes and all. I ain’t gonna lie, the situations of friends and family and my own self made me reflect deeply on that, and the way I encouraged everyone else is the way I should encourage myself too, but then all of a sudden I forget everything I say to others and remember my specialty, which is punishing myself. No, I wasn’t born for perfection, or for not upsetting anyone every once in a while, my intention is not bad, but something inside is broken and then I act broken, too. I have to do some repair work, soon.
Life can be good from time to time, I remember this when I see people, when I meet friends, when we get to sit in the back of a basement bar no one has ever heard about or we have really long phone calls and we dissect every little piece of life, or when we get all heated up in complicated conversations. Life can be good from time to time, when I get random messages like I am happy we met, or when I get to see someone on video for the very first time and I can’t refrain from laughing and they say - it’s the uniform, right? and I nod, like a silly child who never talked to a policeman before and her thoughts run.. well, that’s a story from some other time. Life is surprising, just that I know for sure, and the more I think I can predict its course, the more I’m proven wrong.
It’s summer (almost), time to be hopeful, time to fall in love with life again, or at least to flirt with it a little, to wear flowy dresses, to drink ice lattes, to enjoy the warm on the skin and on the heart, to be childish, to be playful, to roam streets, neighbourhoods, cities, to eat peaches and watermelon bent over the sink, like little werewolves. I AM SO EXCITED.
Anyway, that’s it for now.
Some extras in this edition of the newsletter:
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A few things I have marvelled at this week:
That there are still places in the world where you will forever feel like home whenever you come back to them, so you come back to them, and you always will.
That some people change, but in photographs they will stay the same forever, so you decide to take more pictures of them.
That sometimes you go to a place and even if what you wanted to do in the first place doesn’t happen, there is something else that happens that you needed even more.
That it’s nice to look at yourself through the eyes of the people who can see you, like really really see you. And sometimes it’s unexpected, how all this being seen happens.
That it’s a different feeling to hear a stranger talk about your parents - and besides *those mundane people*, they have a story you’ve never heard, first because it wasn’t theirs to tell, and second because they won’t even know. Again, it’s about people looking at people and really seeing what’s behind.
That Germany and its people are more kind whenever the sun is out. Do with this information what you wish.
That stepping out of the house can make you equally unexpectedly joyful and unexpectedly disgusted - it will all depend on where you prefer to look and what you are really see(k)ing. Oh, sorry, it’s the third line about looking and I am not getting tired. :))
That smiling at strangers will make their day better by 185%, I just heard. :) Bonus if you wink. 😉 (If you get arrested tho, you don’t know it from me, where should I know this precious information from, anyway?).
That there are so many places you didn’t know, and so many things you didn’t try, it’s time to just go out into the world, but not far, I don’t mean Thailand, Bali, the US, no, I mean - go 2-3 km away from your home. I will leave you with the words of Anthony Bourdain, who said the following:
Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o'clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you've never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a Negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.
Yes, enjoy the ride, dear Friend! And if all is well next week, you know where to find me, same day, same place. :*