Dear Readers,
I planned on taking a break in December but I never meant for it to last this long. 2022 was a big year. I moved to Philadelphia (kind of), started Tyler’s MFA program, worked five jobs, quit three jobs, started this newsletter, traveled extensively (thanks to covid flight credits), became an aunt (thanks to my sister), adopted a new kitten, and got engaged.
It was the biggest year of my post-college life.
But by the end of November, I was haggard and subsisting on deli sandwiches and Snickers. Back in college, I got in the habit of napping under my desk on the concrete floor of my shared studio. Reluctant to go home but unable to keep working, I would curl up under my desk with or without my coat as a pillow. I freaked out my studio mates the first few times they came and saw me passed out on the floor. After a few months, it became the norm. And through some pavlovian Stockholm psychology, that floor became my first choice napping location.
This November, I got back into the habit of using my backpack and coat as bedding and napping for twenty-minute stints on the cement floor of my studio. I was so tired that it felt easier to fall asleep there than go home. Besides, I had so much to do. I couldn’t spare the time. I had to work and work and paint and write and do whatever side project I had going on that week.
Anyone who saw me in November could have seen what happened in December coming.
I started to get sick on the flight from Paris (yes, I managed to squeeze an eight-day-long European vacation into 2022). I woke up that morning a little congested so we bought some orange juice on the way to the airport.1 But as the minutes ticked by, I got sicker and sicker, my nose started running and my sinuses filled up and I was so thirsty that I fantasized about drinking the water from the bathroom sinks on the airplane. I felt like Gwyneth Paltrow in Contagion– fine when I got on the plane but near death by the time we got back to Brooklyn.
That night, I woke up at 4 am with body aches that brought me to tears. For the first time in my adult life, I had the flu.2
It's been three weeks and I am just starting to feel okay.
My body put an end to my overbooking antics. It forced me to rest. I slept for twenty hours the first day back and then the next. I spent a week in bed watching all of the Lord of the Rings. My cat, Frida, loved it. She was a devoted nurse and didn’t leave my side. My fiance bought me saltines and called my mom worried about my fevers.
I didn’t write. I didn’t paint. I didn’t do anything productive.
I relaxed. I recovered.
It turned into my longest break from painting since I started to paint. I didn’t even think about my art or anyone else's. I just thought about when I took my last Sudafed, when I would shower next, and what bad tv show I should watch.
The flu forced me into taking real time off from my own life. And now, looking into 2023, I am just starting to feel okay. While I was trapped in bed, feverish and aching, I made many promises to myself. Namely, I promised to stop treating my body like it would always be as resilient as it was at twenty-two.
I swore that 2023 would bring more vitamins. More greens. More exercise. And much much more sleep. Sleep in a real bed. Sleep that didn’t start at 3 am. Sleep that lasted for eight hours. Consistent, healthy, sleep. I would be the Gwyneth of Goop3 instead of the Gwyneth of Contagion.
Because if my body isn’t cooperating, I can’t paint or write this newsletter or run OK gallery or do my job.
So, on that note, cheers to 2023 and many more newsletters ahead.
Happy Sunday,
Claire
What’s for Dinner?
Michael (my roommate/fiance/fellow cat parent) made a shaved brussel sprout salad (proof that I am serious about this health thing). I followed it up with a few handfuls of chocolate chips I found in our refrigerator. I’ve heard chocolate is the answer to a long life anyways.
no covid symptoms and we were heavily masked on the flight.
confirmed not covid after extensive testing
sans dangerous pseudoscience
We have parallel lives. Love reading sunday dinner! Thank you!
Did anyone ever mention
"like Father-like-Daughter" to you?
lol
My 2023 resolution is to enjoy more of your musings