Fun we can have now

A warm welcome to you all—and grateful thanks for your support and well wishes while I work on recovery and rehabilitation. I can’t tell you how much it means. Thanks, especially, to new paid subscribers. You are making a real difference in my life and I so appreciate it.

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I recently started baking bread again—a ritual I enjoy—and was reminded of an universal truth.

We need leaveners.

What are leaveners? They are things that lighten and lift up. In bread, this is sourdough starter, yeast, or baking soda. In life, our leaveners are FUN (in whatever form that appeals to you).

Because, without leaveners, everything is just too hard and heavy. You could break a tooth.

My dear friend Michelle came to stay with me the second month after surgery (a stunning act of kindness and friendship). Month two was pretty hard: lots of doctor appointments, lots of limits on activity, not a lot of fun.

In order to lighten the situation, we sat down and made a list. We titled it: Fun We Can Have Now. It wasn’t the sort of active hiking and exploring adventures we might otherwise have had, but it was something. It was better than nothing.

Life changes—and some chapters are harder than others. Right now you may be experiencing any number of restrictions in your life: physical, financial, emotional. Maybe you are caretaking, maybe you are in a hard or busy season. It happens.

Here is what I am realizing: even within a changing life, we can find ways to carve out space for lightness and mirth. We can find ways to leaven. Indeed, I think we must.

Here was our list. Most of these are simple, easy, low-cost.

FUN WE CAN HAVE NOW

—Go to the beach
My favorite city beach is a 20-minute drive away. That fresh air off the water felt amazing. Walking on the sand was good practice for regaining my balance skills.

—Go to the woods
I couldn’t walk there, as I usually do, but we could drive and sit amongst the trees and feel better. It always worked.

—Milkshakes (morning only)
I had to avoid dairy late in the day, but a little ice cream is a lovely thing.

—Friends on the deck
I hadn’t known how delightful it would be to watch two of my best friends become friends themselves. Sunday afternoons on the deck was an utter highlight.

—Make fruit juice
I couldn’t eat fruit (or most solid food) for the first two months, but I discovered blended melon makes an amazing juice slurry. When you haven’t had fresh produce in weeks, it feels life giving.

—Fancy coffee
This is Michelle’s name for café-made coffee drinks (chai for me). A small treat that felt humongous in those days.

—Hang on the grass
There wasn’t much we could do while Michelle was here, but we (re)discovered that hanging out on a picnic blanket in a park can be a lovely thing (it reminded me of college, actually). Some days the grass was just in the backyard. But slowing the day down to talk in a place that was green and pretty remains some of my favorite memories of this time. Seattle is filled with lovely parks, it was nice to be reminded of this.

—One song dance party in the kitchen
Sometimes grooving with a good friend (or by yourself) is all you need to turn the moment around. The right song can feel like it’s saving your life.

We posted the list where we would see it throughout the day and tried to incorporate as much as we could, in this trying time.

We all go through our own version of trying times. Maybe it’s all the time.

My friend Emily talks about “balancing the scales,” but these days the idea I keep coming back to is leavening—whether our lives, or a loaf of bread. The message is the same: make sure to incorporate enough lightness and lift to help rise the heavy.

I hope you are finding the lightness in your days, incorporating it as needed.

Sending all best,

—Tara

If you’re looking for some strategies and suggestions, I highly recommend the book The Power of Fun, by Catherine Price, which is very thought provoking (and yes, fun). Catherine also writes a Substack newsletter called How to Feel Alive.

If you are looking for the full story of my current medical marathon—and what I think we can all learn from it—that story is here. Thanks for reading.

Something else to enjoy: my books

Bonus bread shot, for those of you who stayed to the very end. Such simplicity (four ingredients), but so, so good.