is that unusual?
wait. what?
Discovery Park is my favorite place in Seattle. I have had some truly spiritual moments on the cliffs, next to the ferns and gigantic trees, on the edge of the ocean… all in Discovery Park. I’ve seen seals, river otters, raccoons, sea stars, bunnies, herons, humming birds, bald eagles, and I even got swooped by an owl once on a run at dusk… all in Discovery Park.
We went as a family to Discovery Park this weekend. It was raining, so while Evan went for a run, Marcelline and I went to the kids room at the visitor center. So it’s like being at a playground…
…but it’s a silent room instead.
I actually welcome most parent conversations at a playground. I’m an extrovert. I think humans are awesome. I’m always looking for friends. But there is an extra level of awkwardness when you’re put in a room with unknown families.
When we first got there, there was only one other family—two kids (one Marcelline’s age, another much younger) and their mother. The kids started playing, we started talking. The other thing about making conversation with new people with kids in proximity is it’s absolutely impossible to have a conversation when kids are around even with people you KNOW really well. You’re constantly getting interrupted or having to have an intervention with a kid up on a ledge or something.
This mom and I started talking. She had never been to the Discovery Park playroom. She actually hadn’t been to the park in a long time, she lives in super south Seattle. We started talking about the amazing wildlife of Discovery. Then I told her that just days prior, people had spotted orca whales at Golden Gardens.
And I got so giddy as I said, “They were like BREACHING! Right there in Golden Gardens!”
The mom, a bit distracted by a kid, asked, “Oh, is that unusual?”
I was taken aback. All the sudden, I doubted my own wonderment. Is it unusual?? I unassuredly answered, “Uh, yeah, it is.” But the kids needed us. The moment was gone.
When Evan finished his run, I went for a walk by myself and could not stop thinking about the question of unusual.
No headphones, no kid with me, no friends… just me listening to the forest and the ocean and thinking about my life and what’s in it and if it’s unusual. I immediately thought of the time in my mid-twenties where I stayed at a woman’s home who lived on “Patagonia Row” in Ventura, California. It’s right on the coast, where all the Patagonia employees bought houses back in the day. She worked for the company then and now. I woke in the morning and drank coffee looking out her kitchen window to the surfers. Then I saw something so cool.
“Oh my god! There are dolphins swimming alongside that surfer!”
Without even looking out the window, she told me, “Oh, yeah they do that.”
They do that.
In my early days producing live shows at KEXP, I sat in on another show. It was SO GOOD. At the end of the show, I told the producer, “That was fucking awesome.”
Their response to me? “You know what we call that? Just another Tuesday.”
I have been so lucky in my life. Well, lucky and alternatively ambitious. I have sacrificed things like home ownership and traditional career success to live in incredible places and adventure like a motherfucker. I am after the places and the work and the relationships where wonderment isn’t unusual. I keep thinking about these funny local strangers looking at something and asking, “Is that unusual?” and how I want to answer, “It may not be unusual, but it’s fucking spectacular.”
How lucky are we that there is fucking spectacular nature and art and work and love that isn’t unusual? Lucky, yes. But again, you gotta look for it. You gotta work for it. You gotta recognize it. It’s not unusual, but it’s fucking spectacular.
Quick Hits:
Jam of the Week: The Black Keys – This Is Nowhere.
(I don’t know what it is about this song, but I’ve listened to it legit five times. in a row. it takes me back to roadtrips through Texas or Wyoming in my early 20s, feeling lost but then so found in music.)
I Will Watch This Every Day For A WHILE.
(it was amazing. Evan, Marcelline, and I stood up and clapped afterwards. I loved The Oscars this year. so many amazing films! though Lily was robbed. also, putting out into the universe that a life goal is to be invited to this afterparty. also, Jill always has the best meme recaps.)The Next Movie I Wanna See.
(his Fresh Air was so good.)
This Made Me Laugh.
(remind me to tell you some time about how Ev and I once unknowingly brought a swinging couple back to our hotel room.)Excited For This Book.
(THE essayist of our generation… and embarrassingly I didn’t even know who he was just three years ago.)LOL, Me.
(I am such a homebody… then I get so depressed… then I go outside and remember.)This Color Is It For Spring.
(you saw it on the red carpet at the Oscars and I keep seeing it in the streets.)💔💔💔.
(this piece of writing is heartbreaking and necessary. what do we do each day when genocide is happening and the laundry needs to be done?)
I love you and I think you’re unusual and fucking spectacular and I love that that love is not unusual.
xxo,
rachel.