Category: Newsletter

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Newsletter

The Latest: My New Article + Bonus | Can I Help? ❤️| Tidbits

Sharon Holbrook

Hey there,

Around here winter has reached that stage I’m calling the Great Softening. Finally, finally, finally, the temperature is getting above freezing every day and the drip of water and shrinking snow promises that spring is slowly creeping in. Once again, spring will win. This, plus good news about COVID numbers, means I’m feeling extra hopeful these days. How are you? I always like to hear.

I have so much to share today! You may have seen my new article in the New York Times, Emptying the Dishwasher Can Enrich Kids’ Mental Health. Reporting this was fascinating; there’s so much expertise showing that asking more of kids doesn’t mean cracking down on them, but instead building them up. I love sharing this good news.

A little behind the scenes: It took SO LONG to get this article from my original pitch (early November) to publication (February). There was editing, additional reporting, a very busy editor, and fact-checking (NYT is so thorough and professional!). But that means I also had time to create a little bonus for you: a super-practical extra sharing 8 Ways to Nurture Kids’ Independence, even now during the pandemic.

The Latest: Can I Help?

I’m starting a brand-new feature and I’m sharing it with you, my very favorite people, first! You can ask for advice on your dilemmas in raising capable kids, and I’ll try to find you the answers using the best expertise out there. It’s not that I personally have all the answers (just ask my three kids) but I do know how to find those answers, so I’m hoping we can all learn from this project together.

My promise: It’ll always be encouraging (never scolding). You can see more details here and share your dilemma (anonymously, if you like) here: Ask Sharon Holbrook: Raising Capable Kids.

I hope you’ll reach out! ❤️

The Latest: Tidbits

I feel like I’ve shared so much today, and I’m not quite done yet. (We’re almost there, I promise!) I have two more things I want to share that you might find valuable:

  • If you have kids that are approaching college age (say, 8th grade and up), I highly recommend signing up for Destination→College, an 8-part series on the run-up to college admissions. You can watch as few or many sessions as you want. It’s just $49 for all 8 weeks and it’s being presented by my employer, Your Teen, which is why I’m feeling confident it’ll be so good. My oldest is just a 9th-grader, so I have no idea what the process involves these days, and I’m looking forward to getting the lay of the land.
    ​
  • It must be conference season, because I’m also working on planning the upcoming Parenting Journalists Conference. This isn’t for everyone, but if you are or want to be a parenting writer, this will be a fantastic resource. I’ll be there – maybe I’ll see you.

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Whew! Was that enough information and announcements? I hope it was helpful. As always, I’d love to hear from you – your feedback, your questions, what you’re making for dinner. (Kidding not kidding? We always need ideas around here!)

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. A little silliness – my editor actually let me sneak the phrase “zeitgeisty sourdough” into the Sunday Times. Ha!

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Newsletter

The Latest: How to Survive Parenthood | Quests | Something Delicious

Sharon Holbrook

Hey there,

Over and over, I’ve wondered how parents of young kids are making it these days. Because I stayed home with my kids when they were small, doing that with a side of pandemic thrown in is where my mind goes first: The isolation of new motherhood without being able to go to a parent group or meet a friend for coffee. The relentlessness of active toddlerhood at home without being able to get relief from a grandparent or even mix it up with a Target run or story time at the library. And supervising remote kindergarten? I’m exhausted already.

Now add in working full-time without childcare, single parenting, and/or parenting a child with a profound disability, and you get the situation of many American moms right now as laid out in this devastating New York Times profile of three women on the brink.

I can’t fix any of this. We need big policy solutions and an end to this stupid pandemic. But I guess the small thing I have to offer are two things that I wish I’d known in the hardest years (it does get easier—some of it, at least!):

  • Experts don’t know everything. There are so many ways to get parenting right. I’ve recently been reading a ton of books about parenting practices and advice across different cultures and time periods. It’s all different. In fact, expert advice has even changed in the mere decade and a half that I’ve been parenting. Over the last few centuries, “experts” have advised everything from not hugging and kissing your child (ever) to letting your baby nurse donkey milk directly from the animal. So, in the words of mid-20th century expert Dr. Spock, “You know more than you think.”
    ​
  • Optimism is a parent’s best friend. The optimism that our kids are inherently capable. That with our love and guidance as their home base, we can trust them with trying for themselves, with messing up, with figuring out what to do next. That they’re going to be OK—even if they’re going through something really hard right now. We don’t have to be perfect or perfectly happy, and neither do our kids. Really. It’s natural to be anxious about getting a job as important as parenting right, but quiet confidence that we can do this—that we already are doing this—are the brakes we all need on the runaway worry truck.
    ​

The Latest: Quests

I (and maybe you) keep returning to the same question this winter: How can we fill and mark time right now? The sameness of being at home amid dark and cold weather cries out for something to shake off the lethargy. It’s what’s behind my wishes for tiny parties and small comforts.

Let’s add The Quest to our toolbox. I think I originally heard this idea from writer Gretchen Rubin, who’s the queen of searching for small things that add meaning and happiness. Why not take on a quest—a committed search for a certain item or accomplishment? It sounds ambitious, but it’s not supposed to be. It can be as simple as visiting every playground in your town, finding the best recipe for pancakes, or stopping to photograph every colorful front door you see on your walks.

Quests should be fun, provide a small sense of purpose, and insert a little novelty into our days. My quest, right now, is to see a snowy owl in person before winter ends. Most winters, the occasional snowy owl pops across Lake Erie from Canada and settles along our Cleveland lakeshore. This winter, they’re definitely here. No luck yet, but this video of one of our local visitors keeps me going. Magnificent.

If you have a quest, I’d love to hear about it!

The Latest: Something Delicious

Sure, desserts are amazing, but what I need more of in my life are delicious vegetables. We’ve come a long way from the canned and boiled options of decades ago, but I’m greedy. I want them to be just SO GOOD, and I want to add lots and lots of vegetable goodness to my whole day.

I’ll start—these brussels sprouts are my favorite. Trust me, I’ve converted a lot of brussels sprout nonbelievers.

Simple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Cut stem ends off (you don’t want any woodiness), and then chop sprouts into roughly 1/2 inch size pieces. Don’t worry if leafy bits fall off while you’re chopping—use all of it.
  3. Spread the amount you want on a baking sheet (you can keep the rest of the uncooked chopped sprouts in a container in the fridge for at least a week and roast as needed—better to do this than keep cooked leftovers— they lose their crispy magic).
  4. Toss on the pan with enough olive oil to make them glisten, spread them out, and sprinkle generously with kosher salt (not table salt) and pepper.
  5. Roast until nice and crispy for 30-45 minutes. If you peek and they’re mostly done and you want to hurry things along, you can raise the oven temp to 425 for the last five minutes to brown them up so you can get to the table.
  6. Eat them up. You can try reheating any leftovers but they’re never, ever as good!
    ​

Pay me back with your own vegetable goodness, won’t you?

Sending you my wishes for a peaceful week with small joys and light burdens.

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. Broke out the cross-country skis for the first time in years. If not now, when?

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Newsletter

The Latest: Art and Hope | “Crap” | Tiny Parties

Sharon Holbrook

Hey there,

Anyone else have whiplash from this long, strange January?

We started with so much hope, a fresh page. Then, worsening COVID numbers (including the illness of one of my loved ones, who has since recovered), violence at the Capitol, impeachment.

Last week, I felt an unfamiliar sensation: hope. The week was rightly dominated by raves for Amanda Gorman (you’ve seen the 22-year-old poet’s spellbinding recitation of her incredible poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration, right?) After ugliness and mayhem earlier in the month, Amanda Gorman brought true patriotism (accountable, aspirational patriotism), goodness, hope, and dignity, all wrapped up in a sunshine-yellow coat, and shone it all out on those same Capitol steps. And that, my friends, is why we need art. ❤️

(Oh, and HUMOR. Yeah, it’s kind of jumped the shark at this point, but it felt good to enjoy some pure laughter at sillier and sillier memes starring Bernie Sanders in his mittens, didn’t it?)

The Latest: “Crap”

Ahem. While we’re talking about the power of words: Did you know, it is more effective to refrain from referring to your children’s widely strewn belongings as “crap.”

I, a natural slob who aspires to neatness, cannot own too many belongings. I simply can’t manage lots of stuff. That, in turn, means I am constantly trying to declutter the excess items that put me over the edge into mess. And it does help.

But then there are my children’s things. I’ve written before about the endless influx of junk items and my doubts that Marie Kondo could fix my house without decluttering the children themselves. I know it’s hard to believe, but my children did not read these articles and clean up their act.

Which is how I find myself losing my chill every once in a while and yelling, “Get all this CRAP out of here!” Crap is about as sweary as my kids hear me get, so they know to scurry around and pick up their strewn and crumpled whatevers before Mom comes even more undone. (Before I lose my crap?)

But—file this under Obvious Things—it turns out barking about “crap” is not, in fact, very effective. Lately, here is what actually seems to be WORKING (and is NICER):

  • Instead of, “*Sigh* Can you clean up your lunch dishes and school stuff?”, I’m having more success with “Can you make the dining room table look pretty for dinner? (Note my restraint about the lunch stuff! It’s 5 p.m.!)
    ​
  • Instead of “You have too much stuff. You have got to get rid of some things,” I’m having more luck with “Can you think about which things aren’t so much your favorites anymore? It’s so crowded in this closet, and I want you to be able to really enjoy your favorites! Let’s make them really easy to find.”
    ​

OK, so this is a small improvement. But there is still plenty of mess (and more nagging/reminding than I’d like). I need your help: How do you get your kids to manage their belongings 1) neatly and 2) cheerfully? (#2 may be too much to ask?!)

The Latest: Tiny Parties

Obviously there are no REAL parties, and winter is currently showing me swatches of Endless Gray, so we’re declaring random parties. Inauguration Day? USA fruit skewers (see below) and a chocolate baking contest. Cleveland Browns in the playoffs? A cheese puff vs. Cheeto taste test. We just feel like it? Flowers from the grocery store and a cheerful, summery dinner table runner.

Do what you’ve got to do, right? Let me know how you’re getting along these days. I like hearing from you.

Warmly,

Sharon

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Newsletter

The Latest: Ruined Shoes | Loved Ones | Writing News

Sharon Holbrook

Hey there,

So much for our shiny, bright, new 2021. It’s like we got a new pair of white sneakers and immediately stepped in a mud puddle.

I have a lot to say, much of which I’m still working to articulate, but for now I will say this: 1) the pervasive lies about election fraud have done extraordinary damage to our collective faith in our democracy, and 2) preserving and protecting our democracy and Constitution need to be our number-one goals as a nation right now.

Meanwhile, amid the drama, here we are. We still do our jobs (kind of), feed the pets, take out the trash, make the dinner, tuck in the children. Essential workers – that’s all of us right now. Hang in there. How are you? I’d like to know. ❤️

The Latest: Loved Ones

Have you seen The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time? It’s a lovely book by my acquaintance Nancy Davis Kho, who celebrated her 50th birthday year by writing 50 letters of gratitude.

When I spotted praise for Nancy’s book in Real Simple magazine, I snapped a photo and shared it on Twitter with Nancy’s and my followers. One response from a stranger struck me:

“50 loved ones” I don’t even have 5 loved ones. Everyone’s life is so different is in terms of how many people surround a person. Being from a small family, having key people die, and moving across country changes a lot.

That sounds so hard. We can’t control how many people love us, and that can be lonely.

And yet: The phrase is “loved ones.” Not family. Not friends. Not people who love us. Loved ones are people who are loved.

And that’s when the beauty of Nancy’s project really sank in: Letters of gratitude are love letters. They don’t have to be written to best friends or siblings or parents. They don’t even have to be letters. They can be the words of gratitude to the neighbor who always tends such pretty flowers or to the friendly cashier at the grocery store. Simple words of kindness and appreciation. That’s how we make loved ones. By loving.

Fine, I know, it doesn’t solve the bigger problems of the world. But, again, it’s essential work, don’t you think? Besides, it makes us all a little happier, and that’s no small thing.

The Latest: Writing News

In the middle of all this national nonsense, I have a few bits of writing news to share.

  • I found out that my essay from early 2020, “How to Speak Clevelandese” was Cleveland Magazine‘s 5th most-read article of the year. What a surprise – I wrote that pre-COVID, which feels like a million years ago now. It’s really about belonging and acceptance and melting pots and America at its best, so maybe have a read if you’re feeling down about our nation right now.
    ​
  • Amid the Bean Dad (or Can-Opener Dad, you pick) drama, I wrote an article for the Washington Post on How to Raise Capable Kids Without Feeling Like a Jerk. You really don’t have to be a pushover or a hardass. There’s a middle ground.
    ​
  • I have a new piece coming out in the New York Times soon. I’m not sure exactly when, but this week it got sent to the “art department” to be illustrated, which sounds awfully official and fun. Hopefully I’ll have that to share soon!

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Let me know what’s on your mind, won’t you? I love hearing from you!

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. Enough winter for now. How about we break for a little summer throwback?

Newsletter

The Latest: 🌟Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021🌟 | Organizational Goodies | Reader Tidbits

Sharon Holbrook

[Following is Sharon’s newsletter. To subscribe in your inbox, sign up here.] 

Hey friends,

We’re almost there!

It’s not news that 2020 has been hard. The week before Christmas, I did a super-informal poll on Twitter asking how everyone was doing. About half selected “pretty good, considering,” 37% said “just OK,” and 11% are “really struggling.” No one chose “great.” Really, how can any of us be “great” when so many are suffering, even if everything’s pretty good in our own home?

If you’re among the struggling, I’m sending warmth and support your way. If you’re feeling like you can’t do this, know that you are already doing it. Most people (well, me, anyway, two decades ago) at mile 20 of a marathon feel like they can’t finish. And women laboring unmedicated often scream during transition (transition is the stop in hell right before the birth) that they can’t do it. But the runner and the new mother, like all of us stuck in this pandemic, are most of the way there already, even as we may want to throw up our hands. That doesn’t make it easy, but it does mean we’re about to come through on the other side. Hang in there.

The Latest: Organizational Goodies

January 1, 2021 isn’t magic, of course, but it’s a clean page to turn to, and a great time to channel some fresh energy into our lives. (Really, it’s so dark outside that I say any time is a good time for fresh energy.)

Here are four little boosts that avoid the whole resolution thing:

  1. This TED talk on procrastination is so much fun. My 15-year-old watched it at school (well, online school) and put it into my hands. As someone who used to regularly try to cajole my college roommates into keeping me company with “A Paper-Writing Party!” the night before my papers were due, I GET THIS. Tim Urban shares the key perspective we all need to avoid getting sucked under by our own “instant gratification monkey.”
    ​
  2. This falls into the so-small-maybe-it’s-silly category, but I’ve been loving the native Notes app on my iPhone for daily tasks. This year I learned both that 1) the Notes app can scan documents (tap the camera icon at the bottom of a note to begin) and 2) you can create checkable to-do lists where the checked items drop down to the bottom of the note (tap the checkmark icon at the bottom of a note to add items). So useful, so satisfying!
    ​
  3. Line-a-day books (like this). These books are mini-journals that allow for only a sentence or two each day. No pressure to be wordy! The cool thing is that they cover five years on each page so you can see what you jotted down on that date in previous years. I’ve been keeping one for two years and my 10- and 13-year-olds are each excited to start one this January 1. Use it as a baby journal, a gratitude practice, a reminder of small details of life, or however you want to spin it.
    ​
  4. 20 for 2021. Instead of resolutions, writer Gretchen Rubin suggests choosing 20 things you’d like to do in the coming year. They can be anything from a fun outing (I put stand-up paddle boarding on my list last year) to a nagging household task (say, replace that odd-size burned out lightbulb). I like this approach, because there’s no pressure to do everything but there is a little priority-clarifying structure.

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The Latest: Reader Tidbits

I love hearing from you! From those of you addicted to subtitles like me to those who’ve also found clarity in crisis, it’s so much fun knowing we’re having a conversation here.

  • One reader tried veganizing the peppermint patties and reports delicious success, hooray!
  • Which reminds me that I owe an update on the amount of chocolate: A little less than 24 ounces did the trick for a whole recipe.
  • Another popular dinner game that I forgot to mention is “highs and lows” or “thorns and roses.” One reader plays it this way: High Low Buffalo: probably goes by lots of names, but “high” is the best part of your day, “low” is yuckiest part, Buffalo is anything else you want to talk about. She also suggests themed variations: movies, books, virtual school vs in person, etc. Fun!

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I’d love to hear how you’re closing out 2020, looking ahead to 2021, and anything else you have in mind. As Ted Lasso would say, I appreciate you!

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. I nearly forgot! I have a new essay out in Your Teen. Who would have thought I could miss an 8-hour road trip? But it’s true.

Newsletter

The Latest: Clarity | Comforts | Peppermint Patties

Sharon Holbrook

[Following is Sharon’s newsletter. To subscribe, sign up here.]

Hey there,

One evening when my oldest was a toddler and I was pregnant with my second, my oldest got very sick. Scott was working late. Again and again, I changed his sheets. Or did the best I could, anyway, with my pregnant belly leaning like a bowling ball into the crib rail. “Sick, sick,” my toddler announced, using the sad new word he’d learned that evening. Near the end of the evening, I too was sick to my stomach. It was an awful time. And yet, I’d never been more clear about what I needed to do: Clean my baby. Comfort my baby. Keep doing it as long as it takes. Doubts and second-guessing were nowhere to be seen.

What I had that night was the clarity of crisis, the sudden narrowing of my world into a mission. Normally, I tend to get overwhelmed by all the things I need to do, feel obligated to do, and want to do. I don’t always know the difference between these three things, and I often (unwisely) just do the thing in front of me instead.

So my intention for 2020 was this: to move towards clarity. I didn’t ask for this crisis, I promise, but we obviously got one. I’m curious: Has it given you any clarity? About what you really value? About where you want to be after this crisis is over? About what to do right now?

I haven’t figured it all out exactly for myself just yet, but I think the answer is yes. There are some meetings, some emails, some obligations I just won’t return to. On the other hand, it’s helped me see more clearly the people and pastimes I value most. I won’t dare talk about “silver linings” (too soon!) but it’s food for thought heading into 2021, that’s for sure. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The Latest: Comforts

Blah, blah, blah, I’m so sick of hearing about self-care. Sometimes, especially when we tell parents to engage in self-care, it feels like a poor substitute for providing actual societal support for families. But that’s a conversation for another day. Right now, let’s consider this: Don’t you sometimes just want to feel cared for, to not always be the grown-up?

That’s where self-comfort comes in. It’s the cozy blanket, the TV, the warm drink (sometimes, the alcoholic drink), the comfort food, the little bit of extra time in bed in the morning. At this time of year especially, it’s just yummy to get all comfy.

But – sigh – we actually really do need self-care, too. What’s the difference? Well, I recently heard it described very simply like this: Self-comfort is babying yourself. Self-care is parenting yourself. Self-care is that important, fundamental stuff like getting enough sleep and exercise, eating well, getting physical and mental health care, and so on.

My recipe for Winter 2020-21 = self-comfort + self-care. I’m going to leave the details of the self-care aside (because it’s kinda boring and predictable, isn’t it?), but here are my latest self-comforts:

  • “Ted Lasso” on Apple TV. How can a show be both so crass and yet so goodhearted and uplifting? Ten episodes was not enough.
  • Advent music. I love Christmas music, but I don’t want to get sick of it, so right now I’m apt to queue up a nice instrumental Advent playlist on Pandora. So soothing.
  • Working on the bed. Right now I’m propped up on pillows with a fleece blanket over my lap. Sometimes a cat joins me. Perfect. The desk will still be there when I (or my back) get tired of this.
  • Reading. I’m currently reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. A brilliant and evocative imagination of the life of Shakespeare’s family and his son’s death from the plague. (This is comforting?! But it is, as reading and visiting other times and stories usually are for me.)
  • Walks around the local lake. I am always refreshed, body and soul, when I come back from a brisk nature walk. This one is kind of cheating, because it’s BOTH self-comfort and self-care. Take that, boring self-care!

​The Latest: Peppermint Patties

Speaking of comforts. Decadent, once-a-year copycat of York peppermint patties, except better. Consider this my Christmas and Hanukkah gift to you. (And thanks to my friend Adrienne, who shared this recipe years and years ago in our pre-kids cooking club.)

Ingredients:

2 (16 oz) boxes confectioner’s sugar
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temp
1 T. pure peppermint extract
1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips (Note: You will need more than 1 bag. Get several. I know this one-package business must be wrong but haven’t made them yet this year, and I don’t remember exactly how many!)
A little vegetable oil

  1. With a mixer, blend sugar, milk, and butter well.
  2. Shape into 75-100 small balls or disks and chill. (I place on wax paper and put in freezer or outside on my screened porch if it’s cold outside.)
  3. Melt some chocolate chips and a small amount of canola oil (maybe a teaspoon). I use the microwave, heating for 30 seconds at a time and stirring after each heating.
  4. Using a toothpick or two forks (or some better idea I haven’t thought of yet!), dip each ball in chocolate and rest on wax paper to cool.
  5. I store in the freezer for best results.

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. Look what someone did to this cute lil wild pine tree on my favorite walk…

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Newsletter

The Latest: Good Clothes | Dinner Games | Little Gifts

Sharon Holbrook

[Following is Sharon’s email newsletter. To subscribe in your inbox, click here.]

Hey there,

It’s SNOWING here in Ohio today. I have to admit I’m a delighted child when it comes to the first snow of the season or, really, snow in any part of December. So exciting! But after the novelty wears off, my seasonal affective disorder usually wins out over my giddiness, and I’m likely to spend much of the next several months curling up under blankets with endless cups of tea.

Which brings me to Good Clothes. I recently read There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather by Swedish-American mom and writer Linda McGurk. Instead of bad weather, goes the old saying, there is only clothing unsuited to the weather. The Swedish, apparently, are obsessed with spending time outdoors. Children (and many adults) are outside for hours every day, even on wet and bitter days, in search of wholesome fresh air, exercise, and nature. The Swedes might take it a little far for my taste – babies are routinely left outdoors to nap, even in winter – but they have a point. There’s a ton of evidence that getting outdoors boosts energy, mood, and physical health, and don’t we all need that, especially this year?

So, I’ve lately been taking inventory: Who needs new winter boots? Who needs new rain boots? Is there a sufficient supply of waterproof gloves for snow play? How about warm socks, a good coat, and snow pants? I have to admit the Holbrooks are not naturally the most antsy or outdoorsy bunch. (See above re: cuddly blankets and warm beverages, our natural state.) All the more reason to make going outdoors every day as comfortable as possible – for grown-ups, too!

The Latest: Dinner Games
​Dinner after pandemic dinner together, you may be thinking: How do we keep dinnertime togetherness fresh when no one’s left the house in days, and we are already together ALL DAY LONG?

Enter dinner games; our favorite is Phase 10. It’s a simple, fun, long-lasting card game that we can play a few hands of each night. We can still talk and eat and linger while we play, and it’s just enough novelty to root us in the moment and a new shared experience. Other options are Ghost (the word game, a car-trip favorite of ours), regular cards, and, for two, games like chess, checkers, or cribbage. I’d add Scrabble to the list but someone in my house hates it, so there you go.

Tell me what you’re doing at meals these days to keep things fresh. Any good games, topics of conversation, etc?

The Latest: Little Gifts

From what I hear, it seems like a lot of us are scaling down the traditional gift-giving this year. In my family, all adult gifts have gone by the wayside, and some big kids have graduated out of the niece and nephew gift exchange. But, especially when we’re not seeing each other, I still want to send something. I’ve become more interested in little gifts, small packages of joy in the mail. Food. Homemade ornaments. (I love these that my friend Kim made. If you’re in my family don’t click unless you like to spoil your surprises, ha!) Advent calendars. And here are 100 stocking stuffers that are not disposable garbage – maybe a few will make it into those little packages of fun, too.

Let me know how you’re celebrating this December, won’t you please? Tea and blankets optional – but, of course, highly recommended.

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. Right now…

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Newsletter

The Latest: Newsletter Launch

Sharon Holbrook

[Following is a sample of my newsletter, which I send out about twice a month. I’d love for you to join me — to receive these updates, sign up here. See you there!]

Hey there,

I’m so glad to connect with you here.

A little update: The pandemic has upended everything for all of us, of course, and that’s true of my work, too. I continue to edit at Your Teen (and even do kinda scary things like videos, which I never I thought I’d do!), but I’ve also been gratified to dig back more into my writing life. I’m developing a few things – new articles, hopefully, as well as a nonfiction book proposal. Eek! More to come on that as I dig further in.

For now, I’m rediscovering the joy of sinking into the flow of research and writing. Yes, there’s a lot to worry about right now. Are my kids okay? Should I have kept them virtual or sent them back to school? When will I see my family again?

But work right now? Work makes me happy, and that’s no small thing these days. What’s making you happy? I’d love to hear.

The Latest: Virtual Travel

One year ago, my family and I were about to leave for Italy to celebrate Scott’s and my 20th anniversary. How things change. The airfare was dirt cheap because (1) the weather is iffy in Italy in November (in fact, Venice was inundated with catastrophic flooding just two weeks before we arrived) and(2) because we traveled over Thanksgiving week, a time when few Americans want to be anywhere other than gathering with family in the U.S.
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This year, we get neither the gatherings nor the travel (though we still have the iffy weather, ha). In place of gatherings (please don’t gather!), we have making-the-best-of-it family Zooms. In place of travel, here are some options for a little virtual trip:

  • ​Cheap Nordic Houses. The houses are cheap, and the daydreams are free. Somehow it’s soothing to browse these charming Scandinavian homes. How is every single one so picturesque?
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  • ​Window Swap. Flip through 10-minute videos taken from the windows of homes around the world – everything from Asian high-rise views to quiet Scottish backyards. My kids want to upload one from our house. Let me know if you do!
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  • TV and Movies. I confess, I love me some subtitles – truth be told, even when the show is in English.
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    • Scott and I are currently obsessed with the Deutschland TV series on Hulu. “Deutschland 83,” the first season, is smart spy-thriller historical fiction set in East and West Germany in 1983. We’re now on the second season, “Deutschland 86,” which also travels to Africa and might be even better.
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    • For the whole family, check out “Queen of Katwe” on Disney+. It’s an excellent movie about a Ugandan girl who discovers a talent for chess. Nuanced, heartfelt, and respectful of Ugandan culture, it avoids oversimplified tropes about escaping from poverty.
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    • Don’t forget – “The Crown” is back, hooray!

​The Latest: Nature

I’ve lived near this lake for 8 years and always liked it, but it’s only in 2020 that I’ve truly fallen in love with it. Watching the wildlife, foliage, and water change over the seasons is a life-giving balm in an otherwise soul-sucking year. Even in November, isn’t it gorgeous?

What’s giving you life these days? I’d love to hear from you. And please feel free to forward this newsletter to a friend. If they’d like to subscribe, they can hop over to sharonholbrook.com/newsletter/.

Warmly,

Sharon