A summary of the March posts from the MORE TO COME newsletter.
“Aging is such a privilege,” wrote a friend I’ve known since college. “I truly celebrate birthdays and the opportunity to get older.” Pair Becky’s note with Madeleine L’Engle’s perspective that “I am still every age that I have been,” and you may see getting older in a new light.
“Because I was once a child,” L’Engle noted, “I am always a child.”
“Far too many people misunderstand what ‘putting away childish things’ means, and think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup… [Instead] if I can retain a child’s awareness and joy, and ‘be’ fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grownup.”
You may have already guessed that I celebrated a milestone birthday in March. The two pieces that touched on that event were among the reader favorites this month. Let’s take a look at those essays as well as the other things that caught my attention on MORE TO COME.
TOP READER FAVORITES
I’ve been reminded this month of the beauty of the Irish blessing, “May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.”
- My birthday list of 70 things I’ve learned in my (now) 70 years of life was far and away the top choice in March (70 lessons from 70 years).
- A large number of visitors also read my appreciation for the celebratory cards, notes, and gifts that arrived quite unexpectedly in our mailbox (Rich (in a George Bailey kind of way)). Among them was a card that read, “You are living proof that it is possible to be old and cool at the same time.” I have no idea about the veracity of that comment, but I’m going to believe that it is actually true.
In addition to these two personal and upbeat essays, one other post that reminds us of the challenges we’re facing today resulted in high reader interest.
- Rewriting the past to control the future is a review of Jason Stanley’s newest book on why the erasure of history is a favored tool of fascists, and what we can do about it. Congressman Jamie Raskin wrote about Stanley’s work: “He leaves us with the sense that those who fight for the past can save the future.”
THE TIMES WE LIVE IN
There is so much to do. Where then, should we focus our attention? This was a question I returned to on MTC over the course of March.
- Our endless and proper work suggests that we should not feel bad if we cannot sort through all the moral ugliness of the moment. To have all the answers might be proof that you aren’t asking the right questions. Be intentional about guarding your energies and focusing your attention.
- With both despair and wonder in this world, some of us are using the Christian season of Lent to focus on finding the truth expressed in the phrase Light shines in the darkness. “What we are called to give up in Lent is control itself . . . Lent is about the freedom that is gained only through exposure to the truth.”
WHAT ELSE TICKLED MY FANCY
Here are the other posts that popped up on MTC this month:
- Bringing a measure of justice to an unjust world—A review of Donna Leon’s latest in the Commissario Brunetti series.
- My personal spring training—An annual post that examines the movie I watch and the book I read in order to get ready for the upcoming baseball season. Then last Thursday we celebrated Opening Day 2025 in MTC.
- Pain, imperfection, and a musical monument to hope—I suspect that after reading a new work by a historian who writes with “verve and authority,” you will never listen to George Frideric Handel’s epic Messiah the same way again.
- A generosity of spirit; a sense of hope—Stories of the contemporary experience by George Saunders, one of our nation’s most celebrated writers.
- And the always popular From the bookshelf: February 2025.
FEATURED COMMENT
This is the segment where the readers speak up. Since we had both wisdom and wisecracks around that milestone birthday, I’ll focus on the former . . .
Brilliant reader Amanda wanted to let me know that my 70 lessons resonated with her.
“I loved every word! It was like savoring 70 delicious morsels for the soul! I’ve passed along to friends for fortification! Happy Birthday!”
God, I love my friends (and readers)!
I share a birthday (much to our mutual surprise) with brilliant reader Robyn, whose brilliance extends to being a knowledgeable Cincinnati Reds fan. She wrote in response to lesson #16 when I suggested we all entertain the possibility that we may be wrong, as I had long been about the pitch clock.
“We have the same birthday! Happy birthday, David! Also, yes, the pitch clock is awesome. I’m afraid the new system of challenging calls will slow the game right back down, though. Hope that’s something I turn out to be wrong about! Very excited for the Reds season with Terry Francona at the helm. Hopefully he’ll iron out our sometimes sloppy defense.”
Robyn is also a writer whose newsletter I follow, and one day I happened to glance at Substack Notes and saw that Robyn was liking something that another friend—brilliant reader (and writer) Elizabeth—had written. And I thought, wait a second. I know Robyn from way back when she spoke at a Main Street conference. I’ve admired her writing and we’ve stayed in touch. And then I know Elizabeth from the great article she wrote about how the Baltimore Orioles helped lift her out of depression when she was a classics student at Johns Hopkins. We later met and visited over drinks during our twins’ college search. So how do they know each other!?!
They have two of the best newsletter names on Substack: Robyn writes at You Think Too Much and Elizabeth is the author of This Won’t End Well: On Loving Greek Tragedy. I sent an email to both and received surprised and delightful responses in return. Robyn’s noted that she had toyed with classics as a major while an undergraduate. Elizabeth wrote,
“Whaaat?! How wonderful is this? Writing, baseball, Substack, friendship: a grand slam. More to come!”
I love connections!
SPRING HAS ARRIVED
March is also our anniversary month. To celebrate this year we enjoyed a meal at the wonderful Vietnamese restaurant Moon Rabbit by Kevin Tien.
I love this time of year when the flowers are beginning to bloom, spreading beauty, joy, and hope in a season when we really need all three.
A good friend sent around a reading, and he ended his note by saying, “May you be as welcome as daffodils to all who see you coming their way.” Amen.
CONCLUSION
Thanks, as always, for reading. Your support and feedback mean more than I can ever express.
As you travel life’s highways be open to love; thirst for wonder; undertake some mindful, transformative walking every day. Recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, public servants, and others can feel especially vulnerable . . . because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy as the fight never ends.
When times get rough, let your memories wander back to some wonderful place with remembrances of family and friends. But don’t be too hard on yourself if a few of the facts slip. Just get the poetry right.
Remember that “we are here to keep watch, not to keep.” Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. And bash into some joy along the way.
Finally, try to be nice. Always be kind.
More to come . . .
DJB
For the February 2025 summary, click here.
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Photo of cherry blossoms by Arno Smit on Unsplash
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