Holding Your Best Friend's Baby
On gratitude. Last weekend, one of my very closest friends was in town for too brief a time—a visit that overlapped with my mom and sister’s arrival, and my...
Talking to Your Therapist About Pete Seeger
On little things. My therapist asked me what helps keep me grounded, and I said, well, I have this project where I try to write about a little thing each...
Baseball on the Radio
On traditions. I don’t have a new Enthusiasm for you this week, but here’s one from the archives. Happy opening day at Fenway; at least we have baseball. <3...
Mourning Doves
On lament. There’s a pair that perch somewhere along the eaves. Each morning, when I open the door, they burst out from wherever they were hiding—all of us...
Strep Test
On parenthood. I did not feel good. In front of the mirror—phone in hand, flashlight on—I stuck out my tongue and lit up the inside of my mouth. La Fille...
Cleaning Up After the Roomba
On repair. There is so much destruction. The Doomba The baby’s toys, strewn across the room. One stuck in the robot’s no-longer-spinning wheel. Cheerios...
When My Phone Dies
On disappearing. I hate how unmoored it makes me feel. The screen flickers off and I’m left with a useless brick in my hand. What did I do without it? Got...
Losing My Voice
On a sore throat. I keep apologizing. I’m getting over something. I tried to sing a lullaby, but only a whisper came out.
Cutting Up a Slice of Mango for My Kid at Breakfast
On love. I can’t protect him from all this, I know. So, what then? Mango, Ellsworth Kelly With the big chef’s knife, I peeled us both a mango, going slowly...
Falling Through the Ice
On not going under. The river keeps freezing over and thawing out and freezing again. A couple of times this winter, passing on my bike or looking out the...
Saying “Good Morning” to Someone at 4:30 P.M.
On protest. Friends, how are we? I’ve been hearing Pete Campbell yelling, NOT GREAT, BOB!, in my head for the last ten (oh god, it’s only been ten) days. I...
Eye Exam
On seeing. One line of my optometrist’s eye chart spelled out F-A-R-T. Do you think he did that on purpose? George Maryele test chart, National Library of...
Sprinting to Catch the Bus
On resolutions. Ran to get the bus, I texted my sister. lol. I tell her about it every time; we both agree that running to catch the bus is a uniquely...
Enthusiasms 2024, Wrapped
A playlist. As promised, every song that appeared in Enthusiasms this year. One, 上を向いて歩こう(Sukiyaki) by Kyu Sakamoto made it on twice (oops)—so, song of the...
Finding a Lip Balm in the Pocket of a Coat You Haven’t Worn Since Last Winter
On seasons. The lip balm was cherry-flavored, the slightly annoying kind you have to apply with your fingers, but still—tucked away for so many months, it...
When the Windows of the Bus Get All Foggy on the Inside
On rain, finally. With my coat sleeve, I wiped away the condensation so I could look out and see the weather.
Everything
On going forward. On Election Day, I took my son on a picnic. It was 70-something degrees out—not typical November weather here at all, but I thought we...
Cape Cod National Seashore
On the ocean. Sometimes, when I am trying to get the baby to sleep, I will play him “The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore.” I thought about this last...
Aurora Borealis
On fleeting things I have this very specific memory, from when I was in high school, of this fucking ridiculous Jeep on big lifted Monster Truck wheels in...
Seeded Grapes
On answers. It’s the way they’re supposed to be, but I hadn’t considered it until I ate one of the grapes, a stray rolling around at the bottom of my...
Oysters
On polite fictions. Someone asked what I’d been most excited to eat post-pregnancy, and I realized I hadn’t gotten oysters yet. So, we went out early to get...
Tomato Season
On abundance. When I was in my teens and early twenties, I worked at a flower shop in the evening after school and daily into the summer. Throughout the...
3:00 a.m.
On sleep (and not) If you’re around to see 3:00 a.m., you’ve gotten up for some reason or been awake all night. Both are unpleasant in their own right. It is...
Having a baby
On best-laid plans. Programming note: Hi, everybody! I’m back and semi-unretired for the rest of my actual work leave. Expect a new Enthusiasms in your inbox...
Being Pregnant
On the past nine months. Programming note: Enthusiasms is going on leave! I am taking off the rest of June and July and aiming to be back in August (maybe...
Photos from my Birthday(s)
On occasions. There have been worse birthdays. C. got Covid this week, which meant a lot of plans were canceled—but we still managed to get a cake and...
Watching WWE
On a good neighbor. You can see the room where Mario would watch TV from our backyard. In the winter, it would just be the blue glow from the screen through...
Taking an L
On admitting defeat. My brain has felt very smooth lately, I have to admit. For example, on Monday, I left my home with the express purpose of running an...
Cats, Part 2
On good company. C. has been away for a conference, so it’s just been me and the cats all week. It’s a bit funny, being right here on the cusp of probably...
Allergy Season
On muddling through. My eye is so watery lately, is a thought I have each spring, a perennial mystery to be solved. One of the big oak trees in my...
When All the Trees are In Bloom
On returning. During the spring of 2020, I read somewhere that dinosaurs ate magnolia blossoms. I didn’t really care to verify it—one of those things that...
Solar Eclipse
On the cosmos. Programming note: Hey, what the hell! These keep not sending out as expected! Here’s an unintentionally late edition of Enthusiasms for your...
Gay Easter Parade in New Orleans, Louisiana
On miracles. I caught a fistful of beads—with my left hand, no less—before they flew past and hit someone else in the face. French Quarter Journal/Melanie...
Getting Caught in the Rain
On being prepared. Shit, I thought, looking at the blue-grey clouds rolling in. Left my umbrella at home. Rain Landscape, Wassily Kandinsky/Wikimedia Commons...
Daylight Saving Time
On the future. Because of the time change, the sun was blasting right in my face. Going west on the Pike, riding the bus home from work. On top of that, one...
The Weather in Other Places
On user experience. I don't know why Apple won't let me have the one thing I want: to know the weather in every place I've ever been. It's windy in Edinburgh...
120 Film
On waiting and seeing. I accidentally put a roll of black-and-white 120 film through the scanner at the airport. Do you think it will still come out? I asked...
Accidentally Stealing $8 Worth of Pizza
On misunderstandings I would like to formally apologize to the new-ish pizza place in Harvard Square, which my friend S. and I visited for the first time the...
Guy on the Bus Bringing Home Flowers on Valentine's Day
On labors of love. Roses were always so much work. They shipped in a long, skinny box—all the flowers did, and it was my job to unpack them at my part-time...
Liquid Nitrogen
For medicinal purposes It's never good when someone says, This might hurt. In fact, it's usually a good indicator that whatever it is and whoever is saying...
The Stairs Outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
On souvenirs I kept getting annoyed at the people in front of us. Every couple of steps, they would stop to turn for a photo that someone below was ready to...
Dance Dance Revolution
On High Scores I kept missing the arrows, which I blamed on the shoes I was wearing—my big, hideous Sorel snow boots that, for a weekend in January in...
Eating Alone at Yume Ga Arukara
On getting it perfect. Is this technically a restaurant review? The other night, after getting a haircut, but before getting home, I needed dinner. The...
Hanging Out with a Cat at the End of His Life
Hanging Out with a Cat at the End of His Life On the in between. By the time we arrived, just before Christmas, Moose’s interest in food had already waned....
2023 in Enthusiasms
If my long-neglected embroidery-in-progress is any indication, it is not always easy to keep up with a creative project. But in 2023, I have come here...
$12 Milk Frother from Williams Sonoma
The mega-yacht owners of the world would have you believe that luxury is a rarity reserved only for those who can afford it, but I am here to tell you that...
Waking Up From a Nap To Find out Henry Kissinger Died
When I was in Hanoi, I went to the Vietnam Military History Museum, where, for the first time, I encountered what was true: the United States had lost. I...
Walking Through a Little Pile of Leaves
On the days I work from home, I do my little stomp around the neighborhood to maintain a sense of well-being. caption... Just the other morning, I passed a...
MBTA Commuter Rail to Providence
I thought the train left at 7:00 a.m., so I set my alarm for 5:00 and, somehow, was still asleep at 5:48 when the cats woke me up instead. Twenty minutes and...
Halloween
I think I have dressed up as something for a solid 97% of Halloweens, minus the few lost years between the ages of 11–14 or so, when everything else about...