I wrote a thing about American moms moving to Europe + other links & tidbits

It's Friday and everything's been weird for a while, so let's keep it light.

It’s Friday, and I just had a fun and kind of big feature come out over at The Cut. It’s about American moms moving to Europe (most of us are kind of one-foot-out-the-door at the moment, yeah?). This piece (the research, writing, editing, editing, editing) has been taking up a lot of room in my mind, and it made me want to come here and talk to you nice people. It actually dropped on the New York magazine homepage, too, which was a first for me. My mom texted me that her friend texted her: “During my usual morning scroll, what to my wondering eyes should appear but…Miranda!!! Euro Moms!! New York magazine! Big time journalism! Wow!!!!!” (Call me Miranda “big time journalism” Rake from here on out, please.)

It’s all a little surreal, because it turns out that the life of a person who has a story at the top of the New York magazine homepage (me, in this case) is still a normal-sized human life. One where the garbage smells weird, baby teeth fall out, we’re late for school, there’s a mysterious broken wheel in the backyard that no one seems to understand enough about to move, and where I’m as thrilled that my sore throat is getting better as I am that this article went live.

Here’s mostly what I feel about it all right now: Writing for a living has always been a little weird, and it’s getting weirder by the second. I’m excited about this little work milestone, and (for those who’ve asked) I don’t think I’m really moving to Canada or Italy (unless that autism registry thing comes back around). And more than ever, I’m glad to have this place, and

The Mother Of It All

(and for

Sarah Wheeler

!) where we can talk about motherhood in the way it deserves to be talked about.

Mostly I came here to share some tidbits + links, because that’s a Friday kind of thing to do.

• Kind of duh, and also nice that someone is thinking about this: Making art helps new moms feel better.

• Sesame Street lives! (I cried, it’s fine). From PBS to HBO and now to Netflix, I’m just glad it’ll keep on keeping on.

• I have an ever-growing pile of books about awe and wonder (Wonderstruck and

  Katherine May
  ‘s Enchantment, among others) and I just ordered Raising Awe-Seekers: How the Science of Wonder Helps Our Kids Thrive (thanks to
  Emily F. Popek
  for the rec!). I don’t know exactly what this pile is nudging me towards, but I’m enchanted by the idea that awe and wonder are as important as they feel. I want to give them all of my attention but there is, of course, so little time in grown-up life for wonder. And yet also, with kids around, there is so much wonder. It’s happening all around me, I just don’t always stop and participate in it.

• I’ve talked about my love for the BBC Witch Podcast before, but there’s a new super interesting Witch book edited by Michelle Tea. The little blurb that caught my eye: “An exploration of the Witch, as radical archetype, in ancient and contemporary life…From work centered in antiquity to writing which illustrates how primordial occult energies continue to enliven our world today, WITCH: Anthology lays bare a wilderness of myth, magic, trickery, and power swarming beneath the surface of contemporary life.” Sounds weird. I’m in!

• Have you heard of the British TV show Maternal? It’s about “three female doctors attempt to balance their increasingly demanding jobs in post-pandemic frontline medicine with their lives as new mothers,” and I have not watched it but I am sort of floored and thrilled to find that a show about this even exists!

• Do I need to read Die, My Love before I see the movie? Related: Sarah and I have wanted to make an episode about maternal / postpartum horror movies (such a genre! so much to say!) and we should right??

• Janet
  says that Step Brothers (a movie I love, don’t even try to deny John C. Reilly’s perfection, OK!) is appropriate for children as young as 8 years old, which means I get to show it to my kids in five years. (this is a misrepresentation of Janet’s beautiful writing, and I’d like to apologize immediately.)

• Random, and more of a tidbit than a link: We went to Arizona to visit my father-in-law in his retirement community and retirement living suited Griffin almost too well. “What I love is that it never matters what time it is here. You’re not always rushing me to places!” Fair point, but he’s also asking to play golf now. Mixed bag! More on this later.

• And lastly, my piece over at The Cut is here: Selling the Euro-Mom Fantasy: An increasing number of rich, progressive parents are contemplating moves abroad. Two expats see a business opportunity. ((Major shout out to

  Meaghan O'Connell
  who lurks around here a bit for hand-holding and moral support.) Don’t ever read the comments is probably good advice, but I am weak. Plus, sometimes they’re fun. Behold, my favorite comment so far:

Enough about me. How are you?