Sweating in Lithuanian
literally
No energy for greetings, summer slump.
This week was hot in NYC.
I love heat - I actually am happiest in temperatures in the mid-80s. Maybe it is because I was born in late May (is this a thing? think about your favorite season - does it align with your birth-month?) … or maybe it is because my childhood was primarily in Texas (again - does this match with you? do you like the season that was best in your childhood?)…. but I love summer heat.
I don’t even mind that it is dripping wet and disgusting as long as there is eventually an air conditioned place to cool down when it gets too much.
It was better before cellphones when random summer thunderstorms that soaked you to the skin were pure pleasure and not a means of destroying your connection to everyone you love.
Speaking of people I love: LadyTeen graduated high school!
There was no AC in the overcrowded public school auditorium, and she did not remember to bring her tassel and it was too hot for anyone to actually close their gowns so it was free and easy and hilarious and casual and full of tears and joy and sticky hugs. Loved every moment of it.
My brother and his wife (her godparents) came in from Chicago for a whirlwind 48 hours and that was fantastic too. We went to see The Great Gatsby — my sister-in-law’s first-ever spectacle-musical —and it was GORGEOUS to see her eyes light up like a little girl seeing her first tiara. She turned to me at intermission and breathlessly said “I didn’t even know a theater could DO that.”
She acts in the Lithuanian productions in Chicago!
Oh right! I promised you sweating in Lithuanian. The word is prakaitas - accent on the first syllable. It literally means, the heat that passes through you.
I think that’s pretty cool.
(see what I did there?)
Writing News:
What with my daughter’s graduation I didn’t do a lot of writing but I did compose an ode in her honor about life-decisions in response to Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” It’s a one-minute read, in verse, “Stopping by Skyscrapers on a Sunny Morning.”
Otherwise, I’m prepping to be interviewed on a literary podcast that plays in Germany. The interview is this Wednesday.
I’m also toying with the idea of setting up a book tour in late summmer in the midwest for my story collection in the Lithuanian communities across the country— contact me if you have connections to space or people there or want to help in any way.
Random Final Thought:
Stay cool everyone!