Plot Points #99 💌

Ordinary magic, Mamaws, and In Memoriam

Plot Points is a weekly newsletter where I share my favorite books, links, words, and more. If you enjoy what you find here, please consider subscribing or leaving a tip. Thank you!

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Hi friends. Welcome.

I didn’t send out an email last week because on Monday, February 16th, we woke up to the news that Pierce’s sweet dad and my beloved father-in-law, Ray, had gone home to be with the Lord sometime in the early morning hours. As you can imagine, it has been a tough week.

Ray with baby Lucy in 2014 ❤️.

This will likely sound strange, but having Lent begin just two days after my father-in-law passed feels like a gift. It’s full permission to grieve, to lament, and to remember that death is an integral, though not final, part of life.

Receiving the ashes last Wednesday was an invitation to look this pain in the face and understand it for what it is: one single part of a much bigger story.

It is a grace from the Father and His Church that we have reason to live here—to cry, and remember, and grieve—without needing to rush through it.

What a joy to know that Easter is coming.

Please keep our family—particularly my husband, his siblings, and my mother-in-law—in your prayers.

Thanks for being here,

Wendi

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Word of the Week ✍🏻

Nepenthe: (n.) Something that can make you forget your sorrows or suffering.

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Point #1: “Mamaws aren’t accidental. They’re cultivated.”

What kind of grandmothers do we want to become? At 40, with an almost-teenager, it’s a question I’m just beginning to consider. One day, in the perhaps not-too-distant future, we might have grandchildren, and I want them to think of me as a soft place to land. A woman who is, in all things, home. How do we get there when the world tells us to stay young forever or else be forgotten? This beautiful essay from Heather @ To Sow a Seed sheds some light on the path.

Where Did All the Mamaws Go?

Point #2: “Hit is eall soð, and ƿyrse þonne þu ƿenst.”

Tsh Oxenreider shared this fascinating piece from Colin Gorrie in her newsletter last week, and I just had to steal it! Can you understand English from 1400? 1100? We native speakers often consider early modern English (i.e., Shakespearean) to be Old English, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Gather ‘round for a little history lesson, friends!

How far back in time can you understand English?

Point #3: It’s in the details.

The world is getting faster, and we are perpetually distracted and disconnected. How can we regain our ability to live an embodied life, full of sensation and experience? In her piece, amandine bula invites us to romanticize the ordinary, everyday moments.

finding magic in the ordinary

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Reading in The Nook 📚

Still working on Wuthering Heights…

The characters are just so insanely unlikable that I want it to be over. Emily, dear, was this your intent? Mariella Hunt hit the nail on the head when she wrote last week, “I just finished Wuthering Heights, and I feel like I’ve finally escaped a cramped house where every single person was yelling at each other.” I’m not even done yet, and I concur!

I want to jump into this cover.

I also finished a cozy romance this week called What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball by Elisabeth Aimee Brown. I was in a bit of a sad post-book slump after I finished the Emma M. Lion series when I stumbled across a list of books to read if one loves Emma. (Which, obviously, one does.) What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball was at the top of the list, and I’m delighted to say it hit all the right notes! It was funny, quirky, and smart, with just a smidge of fantasy mixed in…the perfect read for a winter pick-me-up. I’m looking forward to reading Brown’s newest book when it releases in April!

What are you reading right now? 👇🏻

“Maybe death

isn’t darkness, after all,

but so much light

wrapping itself around us—

as soft as feathers—”

—Mary Oliver—