On April 11 at 6:00 a.m., my beautiful cat went into cardiac arrest. When we adopted her one year and eight months ago she was only five months old. Me, Matt and Lucy all slowly adjusted to the new kitty in our lives. Ezri followed Lucy everywhere and they were genuinely best friends. The morning after Lucy, my childhood cat, passed away Ezri curled up in a ball next to me when my husband left for work. I remember waking up a few hours after he left and she was still beside me. This tradition would continue every morning for the rest of her short life.
Last Thursday Nikki and I experienced the loss of our dear cat Ezri, who we loved very much. Both of our cats left this world in the span of four months – we weren’t even over the loss of Lucy before Ezri departed in traumatic fashion. We’ll be writing a proper dedication for Ezri in the near future. For now, we’re still at a loss for words. That kitten has our hearts, and we’re still trying to figure out where to go from here. She was so young, and was such a joy.
I don’t have much to say right now. My heart is torn.
We love you, Ezri.
One thing is for sure, bad things happen no matter how optimistic you are. And though I display my optimism with great alacrity – positivity a banner I take into the many battles of life – I also could never be rightfully accused of being naive. On the contrary, from spiders to planes to, now, having my cat die of cardiac arrest right in front of me, I find it hard to be scared of anything anymore. That alone scares me more than anything. I’ll call it courage, because I need it to be courage rather than the alternative. Continue reading “We Are Here”→
I’m here to deliver some not-so-great news. For the past week our cat Ezri has stopped eating, drinking, and being her silly self. Yesterday afternoon we received some heartbreaking news from the vet. There is a fairly high probability she could have leukemia.
Our options are pretty grim at the moment, and we are doing everything we can to get her eating and drinking again. We are giving her antibiotics, fluids, and pills to make her hungry again. If she continues to decrease in health we might have to make some hard decisions at the end of this week. Continue reading “Our Ezri is Not Feeling So Well”→
Welcome back amazing readers! Today we’re so happy to announce the launch of our very own Normal Happenings Starry Eyed Discord!
If you’re not too familiar with Discord, it’s this top-notch communication platform ideal for the organization of large groups! So far, we’ve been using Twitter messages for internal communication, updated, collaboration planning, and socializing. It’s impossible to do that all of one thread, so everything is about to change!
Discord is arranged by channels, and with these 16 avenues for communication we’ll be able to rule the world! Or, at least, become an alliance of bloggers and content creators working together to constant improve our work. Let’s go over all the channels!
We think STARSTORM is the most important channel, so it sits at the very top. The premise is super simple. WordPress lives and dies based on how many stars a piece gets. The more stars, the more likely it is to show up in the reader. So let us bombard you with stars! Continue reading “The Normal Happenings Starry-Eyed Discord!”→
Nikki and I like to consider ourselves excellent name-givers. Not a week goes by where weren’t trying to name something. We didn’t, after all, just come up with a name like Ezri (our cat) off the top of your head. Like designing a logo, the intentionality of what you call something or someone will shine through in all aspects of its lifespan.
We find no distinction between a name and a title. Perhaps a title pertains to creative content, while a name pertains to a living thing. Still, articles, blog posts, and videos take on a life of their own every day, and those renditions are effectively the “baby” of the composer. I know I would defend some of my favorite blog pieces with the nearly the alacrity of my own child. (Note to self: that statement might need revising once I have a child.)Continue reading “Squids, Screwtapes, and Suspicions: How the Daily Inkling Got Its Name”→
Happy anniversary to us! Two years ago on a beautiful April Fool’s Day in a small town in Alabama, I married Nikki, the woman of my dreams. Thus, we signed our names to each other’s history and future — a decision of love I could never regret.
I’ve never heard a soul who is now married say that their wedding went off without hysteria. I suppose I am no exception. Seven-hundred and thirty days removed from the event, I think I am now ready to tell this story.
There are three generally accepted cosmological theories about how the universe will end. The Big Chill is the most commonly accepted, where over the course of deep time all of the energy in the universe will dissipate, leaving creation a void, lifeless, expanding darkness. The Big Crunch expects all matter will eventually coalesce into a point similar to the ingredients needed for a Big Bang. And then, there’s the Big Rip — not a theory. It happened on my wedding day. Continue reading “Everyone Has Embarrassing Wedding Stories, Right?”→
The normal happenings of each day help beautify our lives. They are like the trees planted to spruce up a city block, or perhaps a painting in a room acting as a fixture to draw the eyes. They may be hard to notice in the moment, but the sum of our moments would be far lass valuable without them. I simply appreciate that life exists and I am part of it.
In my introductory post for Normal Happenings, I said, “if you ever catch me straying, remind me to go back and read this post.” Perhaps this post should be added to that arsenal as well, readied for the day I inevitably fall off the wagon and start speaking incomprehensible gibberish that only makes sense in my own head.
I want to take this time of relative respite, while the big events of the past few months — things like Tracking Shells or the Blog Awards — to reemphasize what Normal Happenings is all about. I’ll call it a renewal of vows, if you will, perhaps because I’ve recently been concerned I’m reaching a bit too far outside of my writing core. It’s important I slow my roll and do a deep-dive into my own motivations. After all, over-ambition can get the best of me — a topic I intend to discuss in an upcoming post. Continue reading “Appreciating Everyday Life”→
What a wild ride it’s been this year! We’ve met an amazing community of people we’ve met along the way! We’ve organized these blog awards as a way of saying thanks. If you’re reading this, you’re quite simply a wonderful person. Even if you didn’t get an “official” award, just by being a part of this community, know that we adore you. Anyway, we’ve delayed the awards for long enough, so let’s give the people what they came for!
Our Mario Kart Memories
From Around the Mushroom Kingdom
And Beyond
Mario Kart has touched so many of our lives. In this collab, we explore twenty stories of how racing around the Mushroom Kingdom has made our lives just a little more fun!
Better with audio!
Mixed with all the frenetic action, Mario Kart mixes in some of the chillest, jazziest jams in all of video games. Hit that play button, and feel free to stay a while and brighten up your day long after you finish reading.
Each post contains links to the blogs of the incredible authors of their respective pieces. Please support their work by following/bookmarking them.
WordPress Reader audience, while we designed with you in mind, the nature of the platform removes some of the functionality of the design. Consider enjoying this work in its pure form on the site.
We recommend you start from the beginning, but you can click each link to jump to your favorite locations if you prefer. The order is meant to mimic the flow of a Mario Kart game. It is thematic, not a representation of quality. In short, they’re all great and worthy of your time!Continue reading “Tracking Shells: Our Mario Kart Memories”→
We’re finishing up production of Tracking Shells: Our Mario Kart Memories, so we’ll try to keep this brief. We’ve added a special new $5 tier to Patreon! In our option, this has to be one of the most unique and fun concepts on Patreon. It has been something we’ve wanted to do since coming up with the idea of the Daily Inklings!
