The Saturday Letter: It's been a while.
#001: What happens when you return to warmth.
Hello from the whirring label machine in my lap, the cleaning wipes on my counter, the finger splint (that is not on my finger), and stacks of books on my living room floor. These little bits and bobs have finally replaced our giant suitcase and stray sandals, which is a start. But when you’re unpacking from a two-week trip, it feels far from the end.
We’re back from our honeymoon and everything is a mess. Somehow, getting sorted post sunbathing and strenuous walks (no one tells you how steep Greece is!) turned into a full-blown fall cleaning, or, my version of controlling what I can when everything feels out of control. Which is hard to do with an aching back and freshly bruised finger (note to self: stay away from all doors), by the way.
You can’t see it — unless you’ve been a fly on the wall and I don’t know it — but everything I’ve been doing, while sparkly in so many surprising and magical ways, has fallen in the shadow of trying to get back to this space — my happy space — with you. Everything I’ve been doing has truly been really exciting. But they feel more like thrilling stops compared to Saturdays with you: my destination.
Packing up my virtual boxes and moving The Saturday Letter to this space felt like the perfect opportunity to revisit the purpose of this letter, which started as a meaningful way to keep people up to speed on my life in 2022 as an alternative to social media.
I wanted this letter to feel more human. Not quite a diary, or a letter to the editor, but more like…me. I wanted this letter to be something that you and I looked forward to. Not something we dreaded or felt emptied by.
I wanted this letter to be filled with meaningful thoughts, experiences, and conversations that struck me throughout my day or week, in more of a slow, conversational way than with the quick wit that serves social media’s need for speed.
I wanted this space to be for people who personally knew me and cared about me, as well as strangers who wanted to know me and care about me — whom I would hopefully come to know and care about as well.
I was eager for less of a space to always be *saying something important,* and more of a space to make meaning of the mundane and sense of the unique things happening in my life, hoping it might help you make meaning and sense of things, too.
The Saturday Letter originally went out via Flodesk for 20 (20!) issues to 399 of you. Now there’s almost 100 more and I’m so happy you’re here. Much like the letter in its original form, I’ve decided to just start. Which is how a lot of my favorite things I’ve ever done have began.
On the last day of our honeymoon, I realized I was experiencing a rare feeling: for once, I was excited, while on vacation, to go home. I turned to Dan and told him how lucky I am to be excited to return to reality with him. And I feel the same way about this letter with you time and time again.
I hope this space continues to warm you like it warms me. Welcome again and again. There is so much to catch up on. See you at the bottom.
I am never beating the #basic allegations. And that’s okay. Of course, I wanted to watch every Greek-influenced American movie under the sun ahead of and during our honeymoon. On the plane, I happily re-watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which were both way deeper than I remember being? On evenings in, we put on Mamma Mia! (thee perennial comfort movie) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (which was worse than I remember it being, lol). One of our hotels had My Life in Ruins on blu-ray, which was a fact as funny as the movie itself. We sadly didn’t get to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but we did watch my forever and ever and ever favorite, Hercules. Since I was like, 10, I’ve always said this is my favorite “Disney Princess” movie. “I Can Go The Distance” still makes me cry!
Everything Tyla. And Short n’ Sweet every day like its a vitamin (“One of me is cute, but two though?!?!?!” Lyricist!!!!!). Dan and I are also really randomly loving Lupe Fiasco’s new album, Samurai. 2024 is delivering!
Every time we travel internationally, I grab a Culture Smart guide book and read it on the plane over. The Greece - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture edition was wonderful. The only con of this book is looking like a tourist and an old fart when you whip it out. But who cares! A Perfect Vintage, a novel by one of my favorite internet ladies, Chelsea Fagan, was such a good vacation read. The Perfect Couple (I clearly like books with “perfect” in the title?) was quick and easy, but not that good. The new show on Netflix based on the novel is horrendously casted, in my opinion…but I guess that’s adaptation, bb! It also made me realize I’ve had it up to here with television shows and movies throwing in random Black characters as all of these “working” people around them. Honestly, just don’t. :)
Corpus Body Wash is that girl. We were gifted some by the company to try, and ended up using it as hand soap at our kitchen sink as in a pinch and never moved it! I am sad it’s gone! As you might know I am *famously* lactose intolerant, and I’m now obsessed with Mooala, who also sent me some almond and oat milk to try. Instead of all the preservatives and additives, there’s only three-ingredients: organic oats or almonds, water and sea salt! Yay!
⊛ There Goes "The Last Great American Dynasty" Dynamic...
⊛ The Tortured Listeners Department
“Being critical is not a negative attribute. It means that I am attentive to the role that power and privilege play...” -Matthew Cowley
In the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about our honeymoon, our anniversary, my 30th birthday, a sweet memory I’ve been thinking about from my childhood, and more. Can’t wait to talk about it all with you.
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Hi there! My name is Mia Brabham Nolan and I’m a writer by day and by night, currently living in New York City. I write the entertainment, music, and culture Substack newsletter, In Deep with Mia Brabham Nolan. Leave a comment saying hi and I’ll respond! Thanks for reading :)
🧡 love love Saturday letters!
I love your Saturday letters and can’t wait to read more💛