A gentle close to the week

With 6 things that made life brighter and better. / Issue 1,513

Oh, hi friends!

This week was so weird? I feel like it started in a weird place and is now ending in a much more buoyant and happy place, thanks mostly to the things listed below.

And going through my list made me recognize how many elements can combine to turn the week into a bright one.

Friends, meals, good art, good miles, our cat Lula staring directly into my soul without blinking for two minutes.

Remembering the silly, lovable highlights is the best way I know how to close out the week.

Everything else can stay behind!

We get to choose.

6 Things That Made Life Brighter & Better This Week

1. The flowers on my block are popping.

2. Longtime friend of Brass Ring AM Higgins released the dreamiest new album. In a note to me, Annie described it as “a grief record, but not a sad one—an uplifting one. And it seems to speak to this moment. So, I hope it warms your being and gives a little back to you in response to the beauty that you've shared with us over the years.” My heart is so warm! Check out The Dream Trap on Soundcloud and Spotify for ethereal tunes and catharsis. (“Tides” is my current fave.)

3. If you’re available tomorrow afternoon, I highly recommend checking out the one-day performance of Tea with G, a ridiculously hilarious and brilliant new one-act musical created by my friends Deborah Berenson (book & lyrics) and Dylan MarcAurele (music). This darkly comic show (with biscuits!) is at A.R.T. on West 53rd Street at 4pm — tickets are, in Deb’s words, “hideously affordable.” You will love it.

4. Speaking of THE THEATER, another big highlight was seeing a reading of my pal Andy Roninson’s new musical The Real Kyle McCarren, which is so full of heart and warmth and wit. I cried five times? I’m saving the program because this one is going all the way.

5. This week I read the new book Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It by former Google exec Jenny Wood. It’s about turning “negative” traits into career strengths. Here it is on Bookshop. (Affiliate link! If you buy it, I receive like $1, lol.) One of my favorite quotes:

“What is the smallest step forward that you could take right now?

What would feel scary today but fill you with pride tomorrow?

That’s the reckless move.”

6. And this week we celebrated the birthday of one of my favorite people, my father-in-law Robby Macdonald. He sees theater four nights a week, just went to Australia, and has more creative projects brewing than anyone I know. I made him this hat for Christmas because “Start Before You’re Ready” is his favorite mantra from Do It For Yourself. I’m trying to live by it, too. Happy 89th, Robby. We’ll always have Claude.

That’s it for me, for now…

I’d love to hear what made your week brighter and better.

And wonder what else could happen this weekend to make the list.

There’s lots of time…

ICYMI This Week

• If I stop screenwriting for a day and a half, I forget how to do it

• Moving the train down the tracks

• I didn’t write a newsletter on Wednesday because my brain was cold oatmeal

• Are you talking yourself out of doing something?