5 Quick Things #360 📬

invitations, workplaces, Texas towns, & barbecue

Mar 21, 2025

Hey there,

It’s Spring Break around here, which means things are full of life offline! I’ve been busy prepping my raised garden beds and busy not prepping for classes next week… Which I will be doing in full-force this weekend. Yikes.

Tate’s in Budapest right now, Reed’s currently chatting with a friend on the front porch, and Finn is up in a tree. The boys are about to walk down to the Square to grab pizza with friends, I’m about to heat up leftover barbecue for Kyle and myself, and we’ve got a night of letting them take over the living room with a How to Train Your Dragon marathon while the two of us watch our own thing in the back.

Don’t listen to what They™️ say… Having teenagers is the best.

It’s a full week, so this is a short newsletter. Onward!

*Spring at Pontoise* (1872), by Camille Pissarro #

5 Quick Things ☕️

1. This has made the rounds, but it really is so true… There is a glut of last-minute event cancellations or vague no-shows in our social culture these days. It’s far too easy to leave someone high-and-dry at the eleventh hour, yet we should want to be together! And we should want to extend courtesy to our friends — from
Katherine Johnson Martinko
: “There's a time and place for spending a night on the couch in your PJs, but there's just as much a time and place to show up for the people who want to be your friends—assuming you want friends. This takes effort, but the good news is that you're pretty much guaranteed to feel better afterward.”
2. Earlier this week it was the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary — one of my favorite saints. Here’s a good quick history of his recognition in the Church, from
The Pillar
: “He is a patriarch, in the model of his fathers before him. But his strength is in his patience, his meekness, his confident trust in the plan of God. St. Joseph has nothing to prove.”
3. Two Brits try Texas BBQ for the first time… I watched this when it first released a year ago and smiled like a goofball the whole time. They were in my hometown and I know exactly what they mean.
4. I’m a young Gen-Xer, not a Millennial, but I really appreciated this thoughtful take on the state of the workplace, particularly for the generation just below me (which, according to statistics, is the majority of you reading this), as well as the older members of the one just below them (which, according to statistics, is my own children) — from
Sarah Coppin
: “We can all testify to that feeling we get after doom scrolling for too long. We feel like we have zombified our brains. Imagine experiencing this as a young person, with no memory of things ever being different.” I’m ruminating on my thoughts as to how I’d respond to this, because I do have thoughts and want to be sensitive in articulating them. …Nonetheless, her thoughts are worth reading.
5. And finally, I revisit this at least once a year, just because it’s so thought-out and fascinating.

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📺

Chuck …an old favorite!

Quotable 💬

“Have patience with all things, but first of all with yourself.”

― St. Francis de Sales

Where should we go on pilgrimage in 2026? 🎒

These are all options on the table, so it’s fun to read your ideas! …I’m inclined to agree. Stay tuned!

Scotland: 35%
Spain & Portugal: 29%
England: 14%
Italy: 12%
Holy Land: 10%

Find next week’s poll here.

Last Day for Pilgrimage 2025 Sale! 🇳🇱🇩🇪🇫🇷🇨🇭

Heads up that the special for $500 off per person on our Rhine River pilgrimage ends TODAY, March 21… Use the code SPRING500 because I’d love you to join Kyle and myself on our boat this summer — be part of our pilgrimage down the Rhine River.