The Sunday Letter: A look back at the week in links, products, books, and more.
Hi friends,
Somehow with this week we’ve made it to August. (Insert platitude about how fast time is passing and blah blah blah.) I’ll be honest with you, I can’t wait for fall and the return to school. Before you get out your pitchforks, just know that I am someone who thrives on a schedule. So this willy-nillly version of life where we figure things out day by day (and often, hour by hour) is not always conducive to how I’m at my best.
Between trying to work each day, getting Henry to swim practice, figuring out my workouts, being a chauffeur to my children while they live their best lives ever… I’m tired. And I’m ready for cooler temps and a set schedule. Please don’t hate me. But let’s move on.
In this week’s letter, you’ll find:
Two recent books I bought that I can’t wait to read
An update on my dad’s dementia journey
An experiment the kids and I have been doing that I really recommend
The rest of this letter would normally be reserved for paid subscribers, but I’m sharing it with you today as a sneak peek!
And as I make some big changes to this space, I’m offering a massive discount to upgrade your subscription. For just $24 for the whole year, you’ll receive access to these weekly Sunday Letters, my monthly Just Between Us post, and my quarterly Offline Toolkit.
Click here to get 60% off of your annual subscription and know that I’m hugging you so hard.
I have a confession to make: Over the last year I had read through all of my physical books and no longer had a huge stack laying around. Well, that stack is back. And while I would feel guilty about it, it’s books! As the meme goes, it could be drugs, so be glad it’s not. Anyway, I recently picked up these two and I can’t wait to read them.
We Were Forbidden by Jacqueline Harpman — A collection of novellas from the author of I Who Have Never Known Men. That book was one of the most thought-provoking and strange books I had ever read. So when I saw this one, I immediately grabbed it, wanting to be back in the hands of Harpman. In the collection, we’re wandering a forest, we’re attending a rigid French school, and we’re inside a loveless marriage. I can’t wait.
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin — After being obsessed with Benjamin’s novel Under Story, I had to pick up this backlist book that has incredible ratings. I loved how immersed I felt in Under Story and I’m hoping for the same here about a mystical woman who can tell people the date of their death.
My very first Substack post talked about my relationship with my dad and his descent into alcohol-induced dementia.
That post was almost exactly three years ago. And since then, as I’m sure you can imagine, things have gotten worse. I haven’t talked to my dad in about a year. Because he kept losing his cellphone, my brother and sister stopped buying him one so I haven’t heard from him. But recently while I was at the pool, I got a Facetime from my sister and niece who were with my dad to understand some medical things that were happening.
I was completely thrown when I answered, not knowing that I’d be seeing him. But what’s worse, even after being told who I was, he had no understanding that I was his daughter. My sister said “This is Sarah, your other daughter.” But there was no sign of recognition in his face. In fact, he said very little at all. I also took the phone to Henry and Harrison to show him his grandkids, though I knew he wouldn’t remember him.
I get the feeling he may not have long left for this world. Which is one of those thoughts that I can’t quite wrap my head around. After all, no matter what, he is my dad. And while I don’t see or talk to him much, he’s still out there, living in this world. My husband has asked me a few times if once my dad dies if I’m going to keep completely spiral. And the honest answer is… I don’t know. Because regardless of what has happened in the past, I hate that this is happening to him… that it happens to anyone… it’s a terrible disease.
I talked recently about how my kids eat approximately five things. Which means that we rotate the same dinners over and over and over again. And I was sick of it. So I came up with an experiment this summer that I’ve been really happy with.
Each week we rotate between Henry and Harrison and they are in charge of choosing and then cooking one new meal for us. I bought new cookbooks that are more specifically designed to be easy and kid-friendly (I’ll link them below) and before we set up our grocery order for the week, the kids have to choose what they’ll cook. Naturally, we help them with the cooking part, and naturally they haven’t veered too far from favorites just yet, but we’ve now done this for four weeks and I love it (even if they don’t.)
Here’s what they’ve cooked:
Clockwise:
Henry made pesto meatballs over spaghetti with a side salad — Brandon and I thought these were great, the kids felt meh
Harrison made shredded chicken tacos, which I paired with hummus and naan — I am not a huge fan of chicken tacos, but the chicken itself and how it was marinated was fantastic, I put it on a salad the next day
Henry made garlic butter steak with a baked potato and corn — I thought this was delicious, though next time we’ll use a better cut of meat
Harrison made a catalina taco salad — Likely my favorite of the meals, once the dire situation over lettuce is resolved, I can’t wait to make this again for myself
Please note, though I am a photographer, I am shockingly bad at plating and photographing food. It all tasted much more appetizing than it looks.
The cookbooks I bought for us are this one, this one, and this one. We also bought this one but it has no pictures and I can’t fathom a cookbook without pictures.
We got the kids new knives that are still kid friendly but actually cut things to use for our cooking experiment.
I was so glad to see my girl Mia Sutton back to writing!
One of my favorite things on Substack is how creative everyone is. atom 🐝’s characters and The Sleepy Wildflower’s Barb make my eyes so happy every time I see them in my feed.
If you also have very sensitive eyes, these are the only sunglasses I’ve found that, when paired with a hat, I’m actually not squinting while at the pool. I bought them last year and bought a new pair this year since my previous pair had gotten scratched.
I know I talk about this podcast all the time, but the Good Hang conversation with Will Ferrell brought me a ridiculous amount of joy.
See you next week,
Sarah
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