One final sunburn, for the road
I'm off to the UK!
Hello!
I didn’t have time to write last week because I was at a research event at Duke most of the day (as I am sure you all noticed for approximately half a second). The truth is that I don’t have time to write today either as I’m madly packing for a 2 week trip across the pond. I leave tomorrow evening and my to-do list is growing instead of shrinking!
In the interest of keeping the ritual going, I’m procrastinating packing for another hour to write this newsletter. Thanks, as always, for reading.
LOCAL NEWS
Neal and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary this week. It’s mind-boggling to think that we met 9 years ago this month. We were so young. I know we’re still young—but we were so young then! The pandemic warped time, of course, but I also look back and realize how much older I feel these days compared to how I felt even just last summer. There’s physical evidence of aging—I started graying this year :)—but there is also evidence in how much we’ve had to change, together and individually, as we navigated shared and independent grief and as we began looking ahead to what we want to come next in our lives. It really is a privilege to grow older together. I love learning more about Neal every day that I spend with him and, in the process, learning more about myself.
I’m probably just getting sappy because I’m sleep-deprived and nervous about being apart for the next couple of weeks. Neal is currently killing it at a video game tournament in Orlando so I’ve been missing him the last couple of nights. Here we are after our anniversary dinner on Saturday:
CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT
I’ve watched this video many times:
Yes, I’ve been following the itty-bitty Mexican alien news. Neal and I agreed that the best part of the whole thing is that the “scientist” guy wears an alien shirt in all the videos.
Screenshot of alien scientist wearing alien shirt Irene Dubois of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame dropped this bizarrely niche video this month and I never had a chance to share it here. For those who don’t get the reference, Gavin Doherty is one of the best-known Irish dancing dress designers and his company posts “dress reveals” on their page where dancers throw a cape off their shoulders and do an akward little spin, usually right before thanking Gavin for working his magic. It’s unclear how Irene Dubois wound up on the Irish Dancing side of Instagram but Irish dancers loved the reference.
BIRTH NOTICES
Last week, I woke up and immediately pulled on a sweater. The first time in months! Today we had what I am thinking of as our first true fall day—it’s been raining on and off and a cool breeze is bringing in thoughts of pumpkin carving, hot tea, and Kate Bush.
IN MEMORIAM
Although it is rainy and overcast today, last weekend I got my last (?) sunburn of the season. I went to a winery on Saturday, where my dance school was doing a half-way-to-St. Patrick’s-day performance. The winery was gorgeous but I forgot that we are North Carolina where late September can still mean a roasting hot day. Came home red as a berry!
My friend Ally put this time of year so well in an Instagram caption: “the season we switch from wishing we had a fast-forward button to wishing we had a rewind one.”
COMICS
Have a lovely weekend! If I don’t have time to write next week, just know that it’s because I’m consumed in my search for Nessie.
Claire
Happy 4 years to you and Neal!!!! ❤️