It's my birthday!

Hello! Today is my 31st birthday. I now actually and genuinely feel in my 30s.

This year I spent a lot of time thinking about small pleasures. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay was a favorite this year. When I first read the title I was afraid that it would be saccharine and cloying––A kind of paen to toxic positivity. Forgive me! It's not that at all. Gay shows how we can find delights even when those delights have thorns.

Enjoying hot tea with a flatmate after bailing our roof at 4:00am––delight! Having a stranger come up to me on the street, compliment my hair and then WALK AWAY––unexpected delight! My favorite baristas giving me a drink after I definitely did not cry on a very crap day––delight!

There were less complex joys as well, of course. Long walks with friends, candle-lit dinners, dancing with enough space for my funkiest moves, sunsets over water, olive oil gelato, cocktails in the park, laughing till I pulled a muscle, compliments from people I admire.

So, for my birthday, I'd like to give some small joys to folks. Here's how it works. Put in the name, venmo, and a short message to a person you think could use some appreciation today. I'll send them 7 dollars for a coffee, a fancy bar of chocolate, animal style fries, whatever they want. If you're in need of pick me up, you can put yourself as well! If the form is open, than I haven't maxed out, so don't worry about that. :)

All my love,
Meg