Author Adrienne Brodeur and host Lisa Birnbach

Thanks to the rain of last weekend, I spent almost all of Sunday indoors. I finished reading one book and began another one. I listened to music on the stereo. I worked on knitting my never ending scarf (begun circa 2017 or 18…. Or who am I kidding? 2016) and took a few stabs at my next embroidery project for The Tiny Pricks Project. (See Episode 64). The day was utterly restorative. I feel like I’ve been going and going and going. I needed the slowness and the quiet.

I used to be embarrassed to spend a day so indulgently, but is that really indulgent if I need it? I don’t always recharge by moving, though I hate to admit it. Secretly I prefer to see myself as the kind of wristwatch that winds by being worn and in motion. And now you know something about me that I’ve really never told anyone before.

Before I get carried away sharing confidences, you should know that this week’s guest is Adrienne Brodeur who has written one of the great memoirs of recent memory. It’s called Wild Game, subtitled My Mother, Her Lover, and Me. Read it before the movie is made. Adrienne’s favorite place on earth is Cape Cod, and most of her 5 things take place there.

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But now it’s time for my five things. And away we go.

1. I had my high school reunion last Saturday. Here’s a funny thing. I only attended my school, Riverdale Country School for 3 years. I loved it all, (except for a few months in which I was framed and then shunned for a misdeed not committed by me). After nine years at the small all-girls school I had attended (average grade size: 19), Riverdale seemed all American, big (average grade size: 90), sporty, and smart. When, every five years we reconvene, I feel nothing but magnanimous towards all. Also I feel like a 16 year old.

2. Electric tea kettle. Why did I wait so long to invest in this kitchen gadget? I hated the shrill shriek of the old stove top kettle when the water boiled, and I never liked how hot the counter top became. This thing is silent and fast.

3. New friends. Don’t hassle me for liking new friends too. I remember what I always say about old friends; they really knew you when you were forming. (I have to say I really enjoyed hearing my high school classmates reminisce about my parents, and I about theirs. No replacing that ever.) But unlike the olden days, it’s harder to find people you feel close to as adults. Would we make friends with our childhood pals if we had only met them as grownups? Hard to say. New friends you make on new terms. It’s rarer to meet a person whose life will dovetail with yours – with so much history and baggage and yet, it can happen. That’s fun too.

4. Multiple pairs of reading glasses at home. I have some that are custom made, and others of varying quality that range from drugstore to Eyebobs and everything in between. I’ve recently given two pairs away to friends, which makes me feel benevolent.

5.The Peanuts Papers, an anthology about Charlie Brown and his friends and frenemies that is being published this week.I contributed an essay to it, and I’m very pleased to be in such good company as Ann Patchett, Chris Ware, Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Franzen, George Saunders, and so on.I’ll be devoting a future episode to it.You can read an excerpt from my piece here, as it was abridged for Shondaland.com.