Week Seventeen: On Platonic Love
Platonic Love: a relationship between two individuals deeply rooted in friendship, respect, and non-sexual love.
We have some catching up to do. Let's tackle the easy stuff first.
First, as I am usually exceedingly punctual in all things, I apologize this is so late. The week got away from me and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Sunday rolled around and I had been more or less out the entire weekend (minus Saturday when I admittedly spent the majority of the day wildly hungover; more on that later) and I simply lacked the physical and mental energy to write at all. Monday, I got home from work far too late in the day to be anywhere close to productive. And yesterday, though I sat down to work on my blog for the week, flushing out my thoughts on this weeks topic was more difficult than I would have anticipated. So, thus. Here we are on Wednesday finally catching up.
Second, I cut my hair! Some of you may not have seen this but alas:
First, as I am usually exceedingly punctual in all things, I apologize this is so late. The week got away from me and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Sunday rolled around and I had been more or less out the entire weekend (minus Saturday when I admittedly spent the majority of the day wildly hungover; more on that later) and I simply lacked the physical and mental energy to write at all. Monday, I got home from work far too late in the day to be anywhere close to productive. And yesterday, though I sat down to work on my blog for the week, flushing out my thoughts on this weeks topic was more difficult than I would have anticipated. So, thus. Here we are on Wednesday finally catching up.
Second, I cut my hair! Some of you may not have seen this but alas:
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| #SorryNotSorry that I made this picture so big. My face is so dang CUTE! Plus, that Jeffree Star lipstick "Dominatrix" looks baller on me. |
Who would have ever thought that I'd cut my hair this short? A while back, I consulted with my stylist and everything style icon, Hannah. Her response to my wild idea of going super short was more or less "Hell yeah!". She's the absolute tits! Let me tell you. I've spent basically my entire life believing that I could never pull off short hair because of the roundness of my face and I can't tell you how pleased I am to be wrong on that matter! Frankly, I like this cut so much I may never go back to long hair again. We'll see though; I am prone to changing my mind.
Thirdly, and this may potentially be the most exciting news of the year so far: I finally found an apartment! After literal months of searching (seriously, I checked. I started looking for an apartment February 15th), I found a place! It's close to my work, gym, under budget, and accepts pets! The guy I'll be living with seems really, really great. We met up for a drink almost two weeks ago and it seemed we were closely aligned on all of the things that are important to me: honesty and communication, cleanliness, responsibility. Just everything. Guys, I am so relieved I could cry. If only it were June already...
Now, for this weeks topic. I feel as though I should preface the following discussion with a warning: you will witness some uncharacteristic lovey-dovey behavior from me. While I realize it's unusual, stick with me here. It's all in the name of love!
The weekend before last, prior to the hike that ruined my entire weekend, I went down to Denver for my friend Julia's birthday. She and I have been friends for many, many moons bonding over our love of dance and her cats (RIP Kevin Bacon) and also actual bacon. While admittedly, I was a bit of a wallflower for the first part of the shindig only really knowing Julia and a couple of other acquaintances, I warmed up quickly and after a couple of drinks and a few dances realized how abundantly lucky I was to just be in that space -- no pun intended! It was a space themed party. To be in the position of meeting so many great people and enjoying their company. Julia even had a station where you could write a letter to your future self. I chose to write a letter to myself on my next birthday, after this project has concluded. I'll have to remember to update you on that once it rolls around.
And if Julia's party weren't enough, this past weekend, I had not one, not two, but three separate occasions to celebrate how just full my life is of people and love! You'd think that I were some kind of extrovert or something. Spoiler alert: I'm not. I just happen to have a full social calendar with a small group of people.
Friday night kicked off my weekend with my co-worker and I going out for drinks. There's something about being invited to a social function with your colleagues that finally makes you feel as though "you've made it". I told my co-worker while were at bar number three (four?) how grateful I was that she hired me and that I finally felt like I had been "initiated" into my work family. Ever since I got this job, going to work doesn't feel like a chore; it feels like work worth doing and that's good enough for me. I won't speak too much on our outing because while it's important to talk about my life as part of this project, there's a line that I wouldn't want to necessarily cross by discussing work functions. Let's just say this: we had a killer time and I had the hangover to prove it.
And on that note, while nursing my incredible hangover on Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of going out to brunch with Andi, Heather, and Tamra, three of my OG friends from my Dazbog Coffee days. The story of that job is not so terribly interesting and how it ended much less of a great story to tell but I will say this: it afforded me some of the absolute best people in my life. Over hot coffee and empty plates, all but scraped clean of the mornings hangover cure (biscuits and gravy, obvs. My keto diet isn't doing so well! #sorrynotsorry), we talked about everything from our lives to body health to relationships with ourselves to the nature of relationships with other people. It was, well, refreshing. To be so entrenched in conversation with people who feel passionately about the things they love and what makes them tick. I'm not ashamed to say that after our brunch date, I wept in my car. Not out of sadness or frustration but out of joy. My friends are such beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, generous, loving people and I just can't get enough of them!
Finally, after what seemed like just an incredibly full weekend, I topped it all off on Sunday with my friend Sarah. It's worth mentioning that Sarah and I have been friends since we were in the first grade. That long. Twenty three years together. Like all friendships, ours has faded in and out of closeness but its been within the last couple of years we've reconnected and I can't tell you how wonderful that feels. Even twenty three years later, we still have so much in common, so much life experience together. In the late afternoon Sunday, we drank a beer on the patio at Coopersmith's and then had ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. It was just so...relaxing. After such a hectic weekend, just spending a little bit of time in the warm sun not doing anything terribly exciting was so needed.
Guys, here's the thing: while romantic relationships are important (if you're into that sort of thing; no judgments, Aces! I see you), I would argue that strong, healthy platonic relationships are more important. Perhaps maybe I'm just overwhelmed with love for my people, for how abundantly surrounded I am with folks that support me and care for me, but I am in love with how richly my life is filled with these incredible individuals. What an absolute privilege it is to be cheerleaders for my friends, watching them grow and succeed and pursue life. Even when I was in Washington, I had people in my corner, supporting me and encouraging my journey and picking me up when it all crumbled. Having a network of friends, to whom you can escape when you need it, whose friendship can keep you going when life totally sucks is so, so, so unbelievably important.
If you haven't heard it lately, I love you. Whomever you are, I love you. While it's true that I want people to "love and fear me" a la Miranda Priestly, if you know me well enough, you probably also know that I'm basically a giant sack of love and goofiness and Lindsay-brand dad jokes. It's a good life.
Now, you, go tell someone you love them. It's a good practice.
Thirdly, and this may potentially be the most exciting news of the year so far: I finally found an apartment! After literal months of searching (seriously, I checked. I started looking for an apartment February 15th), I found a place! It's close to my work, gym, under budget, and accepts pets! The guy I'll be living with seems really, really great. We met up for a drink almost two weeks ago and it seemed we were closely aligned on all of the things that are important to me: honesty and communication, cleanliness, responsibility. Just everything. Guys, I am so relieved I could cry. If only it were June already...
Now, for this weeks topic. I feel as though I should preface the following discussion with a warning: you will witness some uncharacteristic lovey-dovey behavior from me. While I realize it's unusual, stick with me here. It's all in the name of love!
The weekend before last, prior to the hike that ruined my entire weekend, I went down to Denver for my friend Julia's birthday. She and I have been friends for many, many moons bonding over our love of dance and her cats (RIP Kevin Bacon) and also actual bacon. While admittedly, I was a bit of a wallflower for the first part of the shindig only really knowing Julia and a couple of other acquaintances, I warmed up quickly and after a couple of drinks and a few dances realized how abundantly lucky I was to just be in that space -- no pun intended! It was a space themed party. To be in the position of meeting so many great people and enjoying their company. Julia even had a station where you could write a letter to your future self. I chose to write a letter to myself on my next birthday, after this project has concluded. I'll have to remember to update you on that once it rolls around.
And if Julia's party weren't enough, this past weekend, I had not one, not two, but three separate occasions to celebrate how just full my life is of people and love! You'd think that I were some kind of extrovert or something. Spoiler alert: I'm not. I just happen to have a full social calendar with a small group of people.
Friday night kicked off my weekend with my co-worker and I going out for drinks. There's something about being invited to a social function with your colleagues that finally makes you feel as though "you've made it". I told my co-worker while were at bar number three (four?) how grateful I was that she hired me and that I finally felt like I had been "initiated" into my work family. Ever since I got this job, going to work doesn't feel like a chore; it feels like work worth doing and that's good enough for me. I won't speak too much on our outing because while it's important to talk about my life as part of this project, there's a line that I wouldn't want to necessarily cross by discussing work functions. Let's just say this: we had a killer time and I had the hangover to prove it.
And on that note, while nursing my incredible hangover on Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of going out to brunch with Andi, Heather, and Tamra, three of my OG friends from my Dazbog Coffee days. The story of that job is not so terribly interesting and how it ended much less of a great story to tell but I will say this: it afforded me some of the absolute best people in my life. Over hot coffee and empty plates, all but scraped clean of the mornings hangover cure (biscuits and gravy, obvs. My keto diet isn't doing so well! #sorrynotsorry), we talked about everything from our lives to body health to relationships with ourselves to the nature of relationships with other people. It was, well, refreshing. To be so entrenched in conversation with people who feel passionately about the things they love and what makes them tick. I'm not ashamed to say that after our brunch date, I wept in my car. Not out of sadness or frustration but out of joy. My friends are such beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, generous, loving people and I just can't get enough of them!
Finally, after what seemed like just an incredibly full weekend, I topped it all off on Sunday with my friend Sarah. It's worth mentioning that Sarah and I have been friends since we were in the first grade. That long. Twenty three years together. Like all friendships, ours has faded in and out of closeness but its been within the last couple of years we've reconnected and I can't tell you how wonderful that feels. Even twenty three years later, we still have so much in common, so much life experience together. In the late afternoon Sunday, we drank a beer on the patio at Coopersmith's and then had ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. It was just so...relaxing. After such a hectic weekend, just spending a little bit of time in the warm sun not doing anything terribly exciting was so needed.
Guys, here's the thing: while romantic relationships are important (if you're into that sort of thing; no judgments, Aces! I see you), I would argue that strong, healthy platonic relationships are more important. Perhaps maybe I'm just overwhelmed with love for my people, for how abundantly surrounded I am with folks that support me and care for me, but I am in love with how richly my life is filled with these incredible individuals. What an absolute privilege it is to be cheerleaders for my friends, watching them grow and succeed and pursue life. Even when I was in Washington, I had people in my corner, supporting me and encouraging my journey and picking me up when it all crumbled. Having a network of friends, to whom you can escape when you need it, whose friendship can keep you going when life totally sucks is so, so, so unbelievably important.
If you haven't heard it lately, I love you. Whomever you are, I love you. While it's true that I want people to "love and fear me" a la Miranda Priestly, if you know me well enough, you probably also know that I'm basically a giant sack of love and goofiness and Lindsay-brand dad jokes. It's a good life.
 |
| Me. With much less expensive clothes and a secret soft heart for people I know. |
Now, you, go tell someone you love them. It's a good practice.
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