The Pop Culture Pyramid: Vol. 26

BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID

Black Widows!

Met this antagonist while cleaning up around the build site of our barn. I know it’s a part of rural life, but that didn’t keep me from stumbling backward as if I’d just discovered Sauron himself.

After recovering, I sprayed it, lit it on fire, sprayed it again, and briefly considered moving.

King Snakes!

Another site build discovery while cleaning up. The internet tells me that this is a good guy snake who is mostly concerned with varmints and small critters. We could use some of that out on the homestead because I’m going to blow your mind right now and confess that Luna, our one-eyed obese basset hound, isn’t exactly covering herself in glory in that regard. Nor is our doodle, Bruce. He’s in the middle of a hyperfixation phase that includes the pool, tennis balls, and anyone working on the barn.

Did I like it when this snake disappeared into the concrete block foundation of the barn? No, I did not. But I’m telling myself that it’s fine. Everything is sealed up and fine.

MIDDLE OF THE PYRAMID

Back to School!

I’m mid on back to school time. I know a lot of people celebrate the return to routine, but I find that this is only because we’ve memory-holed how hard the school, sports, and activity routines break us in the Fall and Spring.

That said, I do love a return to order, but this year, we’ve made the incredibly wise choice to try to parent on All-Madden mode:

Three kids at three different schools.

A seventh grader who now cheerleads for all the things.

A freshman at a new school who will be getting her permit in a month.

A senior whose entire existence is making us lament how quickly time goes.

To put myself in the right headspace with them all, I got this tattoo on my hand this summer.

(Pay no attention to the seemingly gigantic Whoop band I’m wearing.)

The meaning of the tattoo is this:

It’s an existentialist idea where “N” stands for the seemingly infinite number of times we do something and the “- 1” is the reminder that for everything we do, every interaction, relationship aspect, job task, conversation, drive-a-child-to-school-or-practice, make them a snack, tuck them in to bed etc etc, there will be a final time we get to do that thing and we probably won’t be able to have that knowledge in advance.

I put it on my right hand so I see it often because it helps me more deeply appreciate all moments. The good ones, obviously, but also the bad ones because it reminds me that even suckass moments and situations are temporary too.

With having the spectrum of school experiences this year that we do, I like having the reminder that it will all go so much faster than I think and to be as present as I can for as much as I can because when those final times do arrive, even for the tedious aspects, I know that I will want nothing more than to go back to them.

TOP OF THE PYRAMID