Welcome to the Back of the Flock, where we are slowed down by freezing all the leftover Easter ham, figuring out how to store all those unwieldy baskets until next year, and the continuing search for the last egg that nobody found.
If you’re new here, I send out one essay a month (the main course) and one email like this, full of links to what I’m loving lately and time-honored gifs. Think of this as the leftover Easter candy you eat in the dark after your kids finally go to bed.
Let’s get to the snacks!
📖 READ: This month, I inhaled Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott. This book is such a tender look at motherhood, punctuated by outright honesty and humor. It helped me make sense of why so many of us feel like we’re constantly bracing for the worst. 5 STARS! (The kids and I also just finished book two in The Wild Robot series, and did they roll their eyes when I teared up at the end? You betchya. So good!)
🎧 LISTEN: Still on my Brandi Carlile kick and recently LOVING her song about cycle breaking - Broken Horses. This time of year, I always revisit this beautiful song - Wood and Nails - by the Porter’s Gate, and if you don’t mind some straight-up folk music, this album by Wesley Randolph Eader is the perfect post-resurrection, early-springtime vibe.
📺 WATCH: As a longtime Tina Fey fan who considers Liz Lemon her actual spirit animal, I finally got to watch Girls5eva! and it was every bit of the early aught’s fever dream of comedy I hoped it would be. I know I’m late to the party, but so were Dawn, Wickie, Gloria, and Summer, so I’m in good company! (I’m such a Dawn btw…who are you?)
🥘 EAT: This is apparently a Pinch of Yum fan account now, but my whole family loved this Pineapple Pork with Coconut Rice, even the picky one. Also can I just plug Change Your Life Chicken by Lazy Genius? It’s the easiest, most nutrient-dense weeknight meal your busy little self could ask for.
Gimme those recs….what made you laugh, cry, or stay up too late reading?
🌐 Around God’s Green Internet:
This poem on love, jean sizes, and enoughness by
absolutely stopped me in my tracks.This newsletter on how to connect with your older kids was chock-full of the wisdom and goodness I’ve come to expect from parenting expert Mary Van Geffen.
(Her newsletter is one of my very favorites — sign up here!)
This reel on the job description for motherhood is an oldie, but a goodie.
This essay on how we can know God is really with us in this “beautiful, terrible world” by
feels like a hug and an exhale all at once. Plus, don’t miss the kids book she just released! It’s fantastic!Snacks for the Road:
Well that concludes…
Be sure to head to the comment section and pass the chips around. I’d love to know what show I should watch next or get a crack at your perfectly curated spring playlist.
My first baby (rainbow baby after two miscarriages) was born March 13, hours before lockdown started. It was truly an awful introduction to parenthood in so many ways. So glad for a different experience with my 2022 baby. ❤️
Oh my goodness, as a middle schooler (yes, who should not have known about SNL probably) I wanted to work on SNL with Tina Fey. Love her, too! I need to see this movie.