It'll Shine When It Shines

Fav Check-ins. A poem about love and lightning. Forgiveness and grace.

It’s Sunday, so this issue is for paid subscribers. We would love to have you join us here. You’ll dig it. I promise.

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Good morning. Did anyone see Wild Robot? I did not, but yesterday, Julieanne took all the kids, and everyone came out of it bawling, especially the youngest, who was completely inconsolable. I thought it was a buddy comedy about a robot and a weasel, but apparently, it has some difficult themes about climate change, separation anxiety, and dead mom-robot stuff. Be forewarned.

The Check-In feature runs on Tuesday, and so many TSB Orchestra members have already generously submitted some of the hard shit they're working through. It's important work, and I know everyone who reads this newsletter appreciates it, so stay in the rock fight no matter what.

Amazingly, we've been doing some variation of the Check-In feature for almost five years now. I decided to do a short "best of" roundup of them, but I think that comes off as too much of a beauty contest, and it's certainly not that. But I did try to hunt down the ones I have never forgotten, the ones that did something to me personally for whatever strange reason.

The intention is to get people to connect. Even if it's some sad-sack version of whale sonar, it gives some of us a reason to keep our heads in the game no matter what. I encourage you to contribute when you're up for it and even better when you are not. they'rere some of the ones that got me good.

"My life these days feels like the opening montage to a movie in which they beat the shit out of the main character just to drive the point home that she is down on her luck. Got demoted at work, family member got seriously ill, kid ran away from home. And all the little things that could go wrong are going wrong. Yesterday I went to the hospital with a big bag of stuff and tripped getting out of my car, and everything went flying across the parking deck and now I have a skinned knee. Like, really universe? Was that necessary? But I am still sober."