I believe this is a widely-held sentiment, yet even knowing that doesn’t make the world feel less prickly and scary. Was it always like this but we didn’t notice? Or did I just go completely, gently mad?

Yesterday Daisy and I went shopping for clothes to wear at my mother’s award ceremony this coming weekend in Denver. I do not know exactly what the award is because it’s a secret but we’re coming anyway and we both needed fancy-ish clothes.

We hit lower Broadway because I wanted a blazer, a black wool blazer. I am 52 years old and am struggling with styling my look, as Wyatt would say. I ordered an oversized gray herringbone blazer from the internet that looked like Agatha Christie was trying to kill me. It was a cry for help, so Calvin was all over me about jackets, as he is the bossiest person in the world. If you give him an inch, he will improve your life so fucking much you will barf.

I needed something pretty and warm and not super formal and yet suitable for me in Colorado, a state I don’t have a ton of social success in. So Daisy and I went shopping (with strict instructions from Calvin) like people who need to buy things, on lower Broadway with lots of teenagers and moms and tourists.

Today all 4 of us saw the Faith Ringold exhibit at the New Museum (really, really, really great) and ate a tapas lunch and then attended a reading of a person I knew 30 years ago who now has a book out and didn’t really remember me. I feel like I’ve just run a marathon. I spent some money, saw beautiful paintings and objects, ate food, listened to people, and it wiped me out.

It’s not just weekends; regular life has also sped up

Wyatt plays sports many nights a week and we never see him. He has no time to chat. Daisy is around and will chat and on Friday, did Calvin and me a huge favor—she asked her friends over for dinner. It was the most exciting. We had a dinner party and we even lit candles. I made a beef/sausage red pasta sauce and Calvin made an overly leafy, overly chewy salad that was still good, and we had a baguette and good red wine that we didn’t offer to the two guests because we are not criminals! (CPS, do you read this blog? Please take note! I took your admonition seriously when you told me not to serve Daisy small glasses of wine at dinner when she turned 16 so she could learn how to drink normally. I heard you and we served these kid water!)

Unfortuntely they had stuffed themselves with Doritos (yum) and candy before dinner so they didn’t eat that much, but they were so fun to talk to. Calvin even told them some industry gossip, which no one remembered because it was intensely boring industry gossip. It did illuminate Calvin and my desperation for conversation.

Aside from our neediness, the dinner was a blast. How can we get more teenagers to come over? Should I make them dessert? How can we limit the snacks so they actually eat?

So much to ponder!

Some painful cat news

The cats, oh, the cats. This week Nemesis got sick. She had the runs, then she made a terrible sound like a baby crying, and threw up on and off for a day, and then she lay on the floor lethargic. She got this from Honeybear, because he has terrible poops, though lately not totally terrible. Just mostly horrible.

So I took Nemesis to the vet, who said it was probably giardia, which I got on an Outward Bound course in the Collegiate range of the Rockies the summer before I went to college. It was a traumatic, odiferous, intensely physical experience. Now we are pilling Nemesis poorly and she is living in the bathroom until her bowels are happier.

It’s terrible! Sometimes I feel so much anger toward Honeybear, and then myself for knowing the poop was not normal but not being tough enough to get the cat to the damn vet. This vet, a nice person, gave me a medicine to calm him down so we can get him to in and treated. I don’t know how we are going to get his meds in his cranky little body. That is Wednesday’s Wendy problem although I do think about it obsessively.

Another email from Maggie

This one came tonight and said “You lost” in the subject line and nothing else. Reallly disappointing. She did get kicked off Twitter this week, most likely for doxing a minor but verified country music singer. We always complain to Twitter when she doxes us but Twitter just removes the tweets. This time they wouldn’t let her post for 12 hours.

This week she bought tickets to the verified country music star’s show, and invited Paul McCartney. I am not sure either of them actually went, but I am sure she did not document it on social media because I have been checking. I was hoping she went and got kicked out, which happened at the Indigo Girls concert that she attended.