Summer Fridays

By: Gabriela Yareliz

There is this guy on the train in a beige linen suit. He has on a blue shirt and thick glasses. He looks like one of those wealthy attorneys who has a house in Miami. You know, the kind that wears loafers. He is vibing. He is dressed for Friday (but it’s Thursday!).

How did I spend my first summer Friday? Sick as a dog. We approach a new Friday, and I am planning and scheming. I know for sure I need to schedule a chiropractor adjustment for an upcoming Friday (seeking alignment), I need to fix my hair, do some writing, type up some stuff for a project, I want to visit that forest expo by GP— I am ambitious with what I want to come out of the summer with. I need to make up for my lost Friday where I was blind with a fever.

Florida Panthers lost Game 1 yesterday. Wayne Gretzky needs to stop his Botox; he can barely speak— he is so frozen. Paul Maurice will go back to the videos, as he does, and come up with an annihilation plan for the Oilers, I am sure. The announcers have to stop blindly praising the Oilers. We get it— you want them to win.

Temperatures are rising in the city. We are on track to hit 90 soon. Before we know it, trash will be melting on the sidewalks. I don’t know if we are ready for it. I am wearing a sleeveless dress. One I haven’t touched since last May. I am determined to wear my dresses a lot this summer to make sure I wear everything at least four times. That’s the thing with good quality lasting clothes, things last, and you wear it for years. I was cleaning my closet the other day, and realized I have a ton of pre-pandemic clothes. Stuff that is already more than seven years old. It’s wild. The other day, someone said 2011, and it feels like yesterday but also like ages ago.

I got my head filled with New England Summer scenes. What plans do you have for the summer?

Whole

“Entitled people are never happy.” Dr. Amen brain course

By: Gabriela Yareliz

We live in a “blame-y” culture (borrowed the term from Emma Grede). It’s someone around us who is to blame or the government. We complain about things for precious hours we won’t get back. We become overly absorbed in pointing and feeling cheated when we have so much, and so much of the rest is in our hands. Regardless of circumstance, we are responsible for our lives.

Today, the reminder is two-fold: we must take responsibility for everything in our control (and it’s more than we think); and we must approach life with gratitude and not entitled.

I loved this thought from Erwin McManus:

“When you’re ungrateful, you’re actually postured toward the world as, the world owes me something.

When you’re grateful, you’re actually postured as, l owe the world something.

And so it’s really just a differential between being a taker and being a giver.

Gratitude is the only internal ingredient that makes you whole.

No matter how much help you get, no matter how much of the Bible you read, no matter how much church you go to, or synagogue, or whatever it may be, you will never be whole if you’re ungrateful.”

Let’s be whole.

To My Brothers

[A note to celebrate my brothers on their birthday.]

Happy birthday, Luis and Sammy. ♥️ I struggled a lot with loneliness as a kid. I spent hours by myself reading or up in some tree. I would pray a lot for a sibling, and so, when I was told you were on the way, while other kids pout, or reject their siblings for a while— I laughed and cried from happiness and rolled on the ground until I cried tears of joy. I remember it now like it was yesterday. I remember thinking that clearly Jesus and I were tight because he favored me so much that He gave me double for my years and years of little prayers I thought went unheard. But you, and that moment, are a reminder that God works like that. We ask for something, and He surprises us with a gift beyond what we imagine. The key in life is that when those gifts arrive, you cherish them to show your steadfast gratitude.

I haven’t been a perfect sister. (Far from it. Been to therapy, lol). But one thing I can tell you despite the flaws in expression— I have loved you from day one. I am grateful that we share this bond forever. That in old age, we will have each other, and I am sure we will be laughing. That is what we do. There are more memories to make, more laughs to have, more high school musical songs to sing.

Watching you grow up has been a supreme privilege. I know for certain it has shaped me as a person. There is no me without you. Anytime I had you with me, I took it as a supreme responsibility because of the gift you were and are.

Thank you for growing into kind, hard working, loving and funny individuals. Each of you unique and resilient in your own way.

Thank you for all the joy. Truly. I can’t imagine life without you, and I am glad I don’t have to. ❤️