time to cook more, sleep lots, and love fuller
on the beginning of my school break, diwali, and visits from my best friend
hello my friend[s],
happy novemeber! i hope you welcomed her with open arms and an open heart. already onto the 11th month- how wonderful! winter still hasn’t come for me yet, if anything the weather has gotten even nicer the last two days after a particularly cold week.
it’s 7:53 pm, i’m sitting on my couch right next to my darling bear, f whose on the phone with her lovely family. a wonderful sweet call for the two of us. r is making dinner [cooking tofus]. i have rice pudding in the works on the stove. we’re listening to pure heroine by lorde. we’re discussing the karaoke we’re going to tomorrow night. we’re getting ready to go out for drinks then to our friend’s house for a movie. life feels put together. i feel so happy.
it’s finally reading week[[[[ finally no more classes or new papers. finally time to cook more, sleep lots, and love fuller.
diwali was last week, finished yesterday. it was my first time celebrating and it was without my siblings. it felt both isolating and so so connecting. on the third day of diwali i went to the store and bought way too many sweets and chilis and diyas. a woman in the store chatted to me, happy to share the festivities. by the end of the conversation, i learned where she’s from, that we go to the same university, she’s doing her masters, that she likes to bake. i have her number so she can send me her cheesecake recipe.
i love people.
i made a big pot of daal, a huge amount of rice [the leftovers is what i’m making the pudding with currently], naan, and a saag of some sorts. after i made cups of chai to drink with desserts i can’t name. we talked and laughed for hours. a strange assortment of people, half of whom i know very well, the other half i’ve only met in class or with others around. what a lovely time to combine friendships. it’s always such a lovely time to combine friendships.
after last week’s newsletter, a friend of mine texted me saying she likes to read my notes because i have both big and small thoughts on little things i come across. she said i make beautiful words about these little notices. i almost cried when i received that. it reminded me so much of a quote by susan sontag where she says "Be clenched, curious. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.". i read that quote for the first time in a different newsletter which i have much love for, your huckleberry friend by sha. please give it a read, it fills me with so so many good thoughts and questions.
back to what my friend said to me. i don’t know if i notice more things than any other person. part of my brain wants to agree. to be to special and unique and akin to anne shirley-cuthburt. but another part of my brain says i don’t notice more things i just remember them because i write them down. it’s incredible the phrases and the memories that come up with when i want to write a note to you.
some of you send me a message after every note and i cherish every single thing anyone’s ever said in response to my newsletter. some of you respond to the various questions i ask every week, forming your own thoughts. some of you send me a newsletter of your own with your thoughts [some continued from mine] [some yours own and yours only]. all of you make my heart warm.
this week, f is visiting me. this week i see her for the first time since early July. this week we spend the most time with each other since summer of 2019.
today, we woke at 1 pm. we laid in bed for another hour. we listened to songs that make our hearts full. we drank cups of tea and ate even more sweets. we went grocery shopping to make my heart [[EXTRA]] full !! we ate food and watched in the soop. now we sit together, back to the beginning of the newsletter.
now it’s later. now its 9:23 pm. now we play marianas trench and get ready to leave.
now i say goodbye to you.
i know last week i said i had a surprise for you, but it’s taking longer to finish. please look forward to it next week. i think you’ll like it.
have a good week my love, i hope your first week of N\november was kind to you. i hope you eat rice pudding [i’ll share with you]. i hope you watch movies and eat dinner with people you love. i hope you make your heart extra full. i love you.
xx delphi
p.s. “i always repeat this but reminding, even if you have a lot to do or assignments, you are allowed to rest and lean onto what makes you feel happy. you can have love, you deserve that love, to watch images, read for a bit. watch comforting vlives. they support your route too.” - @cupidyg