“Exploring life through fiction, together.”

If you were going to be trapped in a room, or a building for a month, where would you pick? What would you want? What would you need? Would you take anyone with you?

I’ve spent a lot of time stuck in our house. Poorly kids, poorly me. Days and days and days.

But I’ve also realised that even when I can go out, I still spend most of my time at home. Even if I count friend’s houses and church, a handful of spaces take up the lion's share of my time.

Fiction Bite - This, too, will pass

Imagine we’re going to space, I tell them on the tenth day.

Does that make you throw up, Mummy?

Sometimes, honey. But that’s not what I meant.

Is it because we’re eating funny meals out of packets because you can’t go to the shops?

Yeah, like that.

And we can’t see Daddy because then he’ll miss his big meeting?

Mhmm.

And we might all die, trapped alone in our house, where nobody can hear our screams?

I don’t think so, Jamie. Mrs Henderson moans about your music, so she’d probably hear a death rattle.

Not if she had EastEnders on.

Good point, as long as we don’t die during EastEnders, all will be well.

Ok mummy. Space it is. Can I watch TV now?

Sure, honey.

Quote of the Week

“If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know only what you already know, you're dying. You're saying: Leave me alone; I don't mind this little rathole. It's warm and dry. Really, it's fine.

When nothing new can get in, that's death. When oxygen can't find a way in, you die. But new is scary, and new can be disappointing, and confusing - we had this all figured out, and now we don't.

New is life.” ― Anne Lamott

Book of the month

Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday

I recommend his last book in this series (Courage is Calling) and I’m sure I’ll recommend the next. His writing is punchy, the biographical stories within are weighty, and he weaves the two together into a magnificent tapestry. It made temperance seem compelling, which is no easy task. It’s the kind of book that levels you up as a human.

Final Words

But I don’t treat my spaces like that. Too often, they’re not sacred. They’re not designed to bring me joy. They’re just taken for granted.

This morning, a beam of sunlight hit the crystal that hangs in our kitchen window. Rainbows danced all around me. It had hung, forgotten, all winter. Waiting for the sun to rise high enough in the sky.

And today, despite the mess I’d yet to clean, it turned our kitchen into a magical realm.

Where are your most lived in spaces? What bits do you love? What bits are you missing? Would you be willing to hit reply? It’d make my day to hear from you.

With Love,

Josiah

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