Prompt & Ponder | Handmade
On the power of a love that leaves fingerprints. We've given 29,000 meals so far! And the case for a different kind of holiday this year.
Friends, this is winging its way late at night to your inbox just before we get to hold a little more time in our hands, if only an hour. I’ll celebrate the small gains!
Typically, this weekly email is for our paid subscribers, but sometimes I feel like we could all use some extra courage and support.
Most of you read this in your inbox or in the app. It would mean the world if you’d take a moment to tap the 🤍 emoji and/or share this post to help it get seen by more people. I have a dream of growing this space into the kindest corner on the internet, something that supports your creativity, connection, and courage even more in the days we are in. I can only do what I do because of you, and I am so grateful you are here. 💛
Our #WonderHelps Update: 29,000 MEALS
Y’all, we have given 29,000 meals as a community so far. I’m still dreaming of 50,000 meals. Every dollar given equals 10 meals.
If you are able and want to help feed people who are now in crisis due to SNAP being withheld, Feeding America is one of the best ways to make your dollar stretch in impact.
I’ll keep you updated as we love our neighbors together. Again, sharing this post is a HUGE help.
One thing you don’t see here is I often write out our entire letter and prompts by hand. There is something so personal about actual ink on literal paper.
In a world increasingly driven by algorithms and AI generation, I believe more than ever the handmade and tenderly crafted things in our world will be what is treasured. At least I know it is for me.
With so many experiencing loss and uncertainty right now, honestly... Today I just cried. I mean, red, puffy eyes, sobbing, ugly cried.
Grief bubbles. They happen.
Six years ago, a few days before Thanksgiving, I lost my Dad. It wasn’t sudden or unexpected. But it left a hole in my world. The kind of space that will never be filled. I’m just growing a life around it.
And dang, I didn’t know this was where this writing was headed, but here we are. Grief. And also wonder.
My Dad was an artist and master carpenter. He could draw and draft anything he could imagine, and he could build anything out of wood.
The day we cleared out his workshop.
I stepped into a time capsule. It was like he just locked the door after a day’s work. A year ago. Projects lay in various states, ready for his return.
Sawdust covered everything. And when I looked down, there were fingerprints in the dust on some of his tools. I have to believe they were his.
Making something handmade is a kind of love that leaves fingerprints.
The crochet work of my grandma, the journals of my mom, the taste of my Dad’s turkey bone soup. And the furniture his hands made are some of my most cherished pieces.
The digital world cannot hold the kind of love that lingers in sawdust and handwritten notes.
This first day of November. In a few hours the clocks fall back, and the light begins to fade a little sooner each day.
Last week I decided I was done. Somewhere between TikTok trying to convince me I needed the super special Laura Geller holiday palette bundle and a Navy SEAL-approved prepping manual.
Make it make sense. 🤣
Maybe you are done too. Perhaps you have been for a while.
Consumption culture can take a hike. I want to support the makers and artisans and craftspeople and creative small businesses.
Mass-produced wonder is not a thing. But marveling at someone’s hand-knit jumper. All day long.
I want a handmade holiday. Heck, I want a handmade life.
A life filled with the kind of love that leaves fingerprints. Where gifts are gently made and wrapped in stories.
Slow, simple, savoring. Curation over consumerism. Agency over algorithms. Intentionality over being influenced. Thrift not grift. (Had to… it rhymed.)
That’s the kind of space we are building here. A place of longhand letters and slow strolls.
You aren’t alone. We can build this together.
I know some of you are directly impacted by the SNAP cuts.
Please hear me. You are worthy of care. You are not less than because you require extra help right now. I hate that this is happening to you. To anyone.
We all need extra help at some point in our journeys. That’s the beauty of community. We don’t have to do it alone.
If you are struggling because of SNAP being cut off, here are 2 sites that share ways to find local food resources. I’m also hearing talk about Facebook groups forming where people are helping with rides to food banks or direct grocery assistance.
(I’m not on Facebook, but if you are, it might be worth looking into.)
Feeding Northeast Florida for local friends.
Love you all so much,
Michele
Here’s a prompt for all of us.
What might it look like to design a holiday that nourishes you instead of depleting you?