The Friday Five!

In, out.

1. As I write this, it is overcast, gloomy and raining. This kind of fall weather, combined with the time change and it getting dark so early, always puts me in a funk. I try to do all the recommended things: spend time outside, make sure I get enough light, eat lots of chocolate. (Okay, maybe that last one is not exactly part of the cure for everyone, but it helps me.) Even so, I could set my watch by when the urge hits to start scrolling through travel ads for sunny, bright places, even if I never get it together to actually go to any of them. Digging my toes in the sand with a little umbrella drink in hand does sound good. Especially with rain hitting the window.

2. This week, despite our best efforts, we raced through the second season of The Diplomat on Netflix. (Literally my husband and I, trying to pace ourselves: “Whoa. That was intense. Should we watch the another one? No, we should save it, we’ll be sorry later. *clicks on Play Next Episode*) The appearance of Allison Janney was an added bonus, as I got to point out, “I met her! She was in How to Deal!” to my husband and the dogs, who of course already know this because I do it every single time she’s on screen. I can go a long way on my meetings with celebrities. Twenty one years and counting!

3. Speaking of How To Deal (which, if you don’t know it, was the adaptation of my novels That Summer and Someone Like You, released back in 2003) another cast member is now in one of my favorite shows as well. Mary Catherine Garrison, who played Ashley in the movie, is on Somebody Somewhere on Max. This show is SO lovely, set in a small town with a slow, sweet pace and just the best characters, from main to minor. It’s one of those you just want to be inside of, like everyone in it is already a friend. Fair warning: at only thirty minutes, you will race through an episode faster than we did The Diplomat. Maybe that’s why Max and other streamers only release one episode at a time? It’s like putting on the brakes for all us speeders. For your own good!

4. One thing that is not relaxing for me right now: we are starting the whole college process for my daughter. (How, you ask? She was just in preschool! Believe me, I know.) I have promised not to write about her here much, as she is her own person and not that interested in her mother sharing her life with the world. That said, for me personally, this college stuff is INTENSE. There is so much to think about, from standardized tests to campus visits to financial aid procedures….it all makes me want to take to my bed, Victorian-style. Which is not an option. Every parent I talk to about this tells me to just Chill Out, that things will end up the way they are supposed to, just fall into place. But if you know me (and if you read this regularly, you basically do) I am not a person who can just relax and go with the flow. What flow? Where is it? How do I know where it’s going? These are the questions I have. Last night I almost passed out from stress during a webinar about all this. Okay, I’m exaggerating. But not much.

5. When this all gets to be too overwhelming I try to just….stop. Right where I am, which now is on the couch, in the quiet of the house, before anyone else is up. My dogs are on either side of me, snoring. Some good music is playing softly. There will be bagels and bacon, soon, for breakfast. And it’s Friday. There are always a million things to worry about at any given moment. (For me, now: the world as it is, college, sending out two finished books and one in progress out in hopes that someone loves them like I do, etc.) And sometimes, the distance between realistic concern and catastrophic thinking feels very narrow, if not non-existent. This is where the stopping comes in. Stopping the thoughts. Stopping the frantic motion. Just being, for a beat, breathing along with my dogs as they sleep. In, out. In, out. In. Out. And repeat.

Have a good weekend, everyone!