Hello.  I would like to share with you the most amazing book!

I have been itching to see The Book of Mormon ever since it opened to such acclaim on Broadway, but I was never able to make it happen.  The touring cast appeared in Buffalo three times while I lived there, and I could never get a babysitter!  We finally saw the show on Friday night at the Kennedy Center, and it was everything I expected, and more.  Wildly inappropriate, of course, but also absolutely hilarious.  As you know if you’ve been reading these Monday posts for a hot second, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack on repeat since we got back from our trip to see Hamilton on Broadway, but – once again – seeing the show in person was ten times better than listening to the soundtrack.  Elder McKinley – sequined-vest-wearing, tap-dancing Elder McKinley – was my favorite part of the show.  Well – second favorite.  Seeing Steve laughing helplessly was my favorite part.  (He had not listened to the soundtrack, and said afterwards that while he loved the show, he thinks he would have enjoyed it even more if he had known the music in advance – more than just the standards “Hello” and “I Believe.”  We’ll make a theatre geek of him yet, kids!)  The rest of the weekend was pretty low key.  It was Steve’s birthday weekend – the big 4-0, you guys! – and what he wanted was a laid-back weekend at home, so that’s what he got.  On Saturday we walked out to the library and the playground, but that was the extent of the activity.  And Sunday was even more low-key – Nugget and I made a grocery run, but other than that, we just hung around the house.  I read like a maniac, Steve watched football, and the kids played and watched cartoons to their hearts’ content.  I gifted Steve with a camping growler and a cozy down blanket from REI – hoping we get some use out of both of his presents this summer!  (He also is getting a very extravagant experience gift as a combination birthday/Christmas present – racing three supercars around Dominion Racetrack – but that’s not until July.)  All in all, I think he had a great weekend – the perfect balance of fun and relaxation, and even a date night to a musical with all the swears.

Reading.  I had a great reading week.  I began the week with We Were Eight Years in Power, the new collection of essays by Ta-Nehisi Coates.  The essays had all been published in The Atlantic, so I’d actually read a few of them, but it was a privilege to revisit them.  Coates is an extraordinary writer, and he never fails to make me think and question.  Once I finished the Coates, I turned my attention – finally! – to The Blue Castle, which I am reading for the #ReadingValancy readalong.  It was an absolute joy, and I read like a fiend all weekend, then was terribly sad when it ended – the mark of a great book.  I ended the weekend on the couch with The Stone Sky, the final volume in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy.  The first two books were so well-done; I’ve been eagerly anticipating the third – but dreading it a little, too, because Essun’s journey through motherhood is absolutely searing.  Anyway, I’m just a very little way in, so too soon to say how it’s going.

Watching.  Another great week, because I watched live musical theatre again!  Before this year, it had been so long since Steve and I went to see a show, that seeing both Hamilton and The Book of Mormon in the same year feels decadent in the extreme.  We had a fun date night on Friday and spent the evening at the Kennedy Center with Elder Price, Elder Cunningham, Elder McKinley, Nabalungi and the gang.  It was everything I could have hoped for.  Pink sequined vests!  If you can see it – do.  We just loved every minute.

Listening.  So, a few weeks ago, my friend Susan and I attended an “Austen in Autumn” happy hour, put on by our local JASNA chapter.  (That’s “Jane Austen Society of North America,” for the uninitiated, and yes, it’s a terrible name.)  At the happy hour, we discussed everything from our “favorite Austen rogue” – I named John Thorpe as my favorite, because we’ve all dated John Thorpe, amirite ladies? – to medieval IT support.  Susan and I left high-fiving each other for being social and making new friends, and I also had with me a podcast recommendation – for “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.”  The premise, in a nutshell, is this – hosts Casper ter Kaile and Vanessa Zoltan, both Harvard Divinity School graduates, discuss and analyze a chapter of the Harry Potter books in each episode as they would analyze the Bible, Torah or Q’uran.  First they talk about the chapter of the week through the lens of a broad theme such as “friendship” or “commitment” or “white privilege.”  Then they move on to a spiritual practice such as lectio divina (sacred reading) or spiritual imagination.  And finally, they each choose one character who appeared in the chapter, and they give that character a personal blessing.  You guys.  I am binging it.  I cannot stop listening.  I am kicking myself that I didn’t know about this podcast back in September, when they did a live episode in D.C.  Because I seriously – seriously! – can’t get enough.  They are a few chapters into the fourth book now, and I predict that both my podcatcher and my Audible account are going to be seriously neglected until I catch up.

Moving.  So – as full of activity as this week has been in other areas (see above) there wasn’t much moving.  I skipped yoga and barre on Tuesday and Wednesday, because Steve was still under the weather from last weekend (actually, he kind of still is even now) and I didn’t want to leave him alone to start the kids’ mornings.  I did make it to power yoga on Friday, because it was my last class with my favorite instructor before she heads off to Africa and the Peace Corps.  But other than that – it was a slow week.  I am feeling the effects, too – I need more movement next week.

Blogging.  Coming up this week, I have a loooooooooong post with my musings on The Blue Castle on Wednesday, and on Friday I plan to tell you about our Thanksgiving celebrations.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  There is so much I could talk about this week.  Renewing my old love for musical theatre!  The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!  But more than anything else, I am loving Steve on his birthday weekend.  We have been together for a really long time – we started dating when I was 19 and he was 23 – and it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that he’s 40.  I feel so honored to be the person by his side as he journeys through life.  He’s everything I dreamed of in a husband – kind, caring, loving, a wonderful hands-on father, and a true adventure buddy.  Happy birthday, Prince Charming!  Here’s to many, many, MANY more.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?