Hello Friends! (And what Family Still Remains, JK)
My goal is to send these out once a month near the first of the month and it is at that time!
Hope you had an excellent Thanksgiving. We had some cousins from my mom’s side of the family over (the Ohman’s) and had a grand time (no parents or grandparents allowed!) Then on Saturday we took Evangeline to see her first movie, Encanto (which was lovely) and watched the lighting of the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square.
So, how are you? My family has been re-circulating the same cold or variants of cold and stomach flu since October and I can’t remember a day since we’re all breathed and nasaled (not a word) clear. Also my youngest daughter Emerson is 50/50 on whether she’ll sleep through the night and I am just so tired of not sleeping.
Anyways, if you want to read more about what working for UPS was like I wrote this article for Medium. I started it last year and pitched it to some places but it never got anywhere so I decided to just throw it up here:
What It’s Like Working as a Personal Vehicle Delivery Driver for UPS
Also, here’s another article I wrote that just came out. It’s a personal essay of mine that uses five songs to explore my journey of faith through many dark nights of the soul (they feel fairly constant at this point). Musicians include Julien Baker, Pedro the Lion, Sufjan Stevens, Manchester Orchestra, and R.E.M., of course.
A Soundtrack for the Dark Night of the Soul
I truly hope you are doing well and remember to protect your mental health in this Holiday season and ongoing pandemic. I appreciate those who have reached out and told me how much they’ve enjoyed or benefitted from this tiny newsletter of lost thoughts. I hope to have another funny parenting story to you soon! The stories: endless! The reality: exhausting!
I feel like I should start work on another novel but I just don’t know how I’m going to do it between my writer’s block, lack of sleep, and overall mental fuzziness/lack of motivation. I’m hoping it’s just a phase. I’ve still been able to churn out 500 words or an article every now and then but I lack the attention to detail to get the pieces where they really need to be for submission or pitching to magazines.
Ok, I have to go feed Emerson some smashed up bananas and avocados now. She’s been crawling on the floor waiting for me to be done writing for some time now. I’ve got my headphones on and am ignoring her tears and screams. You can’t trick me you dumb little baby with those fake tears! Oh, wait, those are actual tears.
Love,
Levi