“My chest bumps like a dryer with shoes in it.” -DFW

So much, yet nothing! Since last we spoke, Meredith turned 14 and Harper turned 12 and we spent 24 hours in Chicago because Meredith and Jeff had tickets to see Frank Iero at Bottom Lounge.

(I love the choices Meredith makes, but please know there’s a lot of blood flying in the video. Could this possibly be the first Fluid Pudding trigger warning? Bring out the baby book!)

As Meredith and Jeff stood outside in the cold rain for two and a half hours waiting for the venue to open, Harper and I went to the pool four times and ordered a pizza and spent three hours watching My Cat From Hell before she went on an Instagram handicapable cat following spree. (As soon as Meredith and Jeff left the hotel, I told Harper she was the boss. I love the choices she makes, too.)

This is the house where David Foster Wallace finished Infinite Jest, and Jeff knows things that amaze me.
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This is not how I feel about Chicago, but it IS how I’ve felt all week for various reasons that I’ll keep inside until my head explodes. (It should happen perhaps sometime next Tuesday, unless I perfect Mindfulness between now and then. Stay tuned.)
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This is Meredith on her 14th birthday and I wish the 14-year-old me had been more like the 14-year-old her.
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The girls are pretty much done with me posting their photos here, so this is what you get of Meredith and Harper enjoying our walk from the coffee dump back to the hotel.
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Last night I took Harper to meet her favorite author. April Henry writes YA mysteries and thrillers, and if you ever get a chance to see her speak, do it. She’s brilliant and clever and not many people can hold the attention of over 100 middle school students, but she did, and Harper was over the moon.

What else? I’ve been incorporating afternoon tea into my routine, and I’m finding it to be very relaxing—a good jump start for the rest of the day. This evening I’ll be finishing A Gentleman in Moscow, and I’m sad because this book should never end. It’s just so lovely.

Meredith told me that I dress like a mom and that dressing like a mom isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it’s better than dressing like a 17 year old when you’re actually in your 40s. All of this to say: On Tuesday night I fell in love with this shirt from Altar’d State, and I’m not embarrassed to admit it. (I did not buy it, but I should have.)
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We really should meet up here more often, don’t you think? ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>

11 thoughts on ““My chest bumps like a dryer with shoes in it.” -DFW”

  1. You’re reading my mind because I just considered today how much I loved my afternoon cup of tea at work. I remember thinking that these British folks are on to something…

  2. I have a co worker who has,a cup of tea and a nibble every afternoon. She’s the calmest person I know.

  3. Loved that book. Then I read Rules of Civility and I loved that one even more!! Amor Towles is also an awesome name!

  4. Gentleman in Moscow was fantastic! I also liked Rules of Civility–and appreciated that it was from a woman’s point of view–but I think I liked Gentleman better. My girls are 17 and 12, and I totally relate to you how feel about your daughters–we are so lucky to have such wonderful kids!

  5. Thank you to Pudding Mom for acknowledging her wonderful daughters deserve to be spared showing up in photos online if they choose not to. So many moms don’t give their kids credit for being smart and funny and talented and still deserving of restraint in presentation of all those things.

    Besides, the discreet shots from behind tell us all we need to know about the growth of these two fine young ladies. Meredith’s shirt on her birthday is fabulous.

    That said, it will not matter how cool or cute you are, it’s your daughters’ duty to make you feel old and out of it. You should still buy that shirt. Your daughters can slump down in the back seat of your car if they are too embarrassed to be seen in public with you. The way you’ll know they are really grown women is when they walk proudly beside you even if they think your shirt is all wrong.

  6. DON’T buy the shirt. Do you have a mailing address I could send a package to?

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