Today’s Lena’s birthday.
Lena is someone who will give us every excuse reinforcing why we should NOT shower her with gifts and praise, when she’s also someone who constantly shows us reasons to. And so, Lena, here’s a small Princess Piece for you to make sure you know I love you BIG, even though I will forever refuse to listen to your humble asks not to.
I’ve embedded so many Lena pieces into my blog at this point—not coincidentally, considering she’s literally the one who inspired me to start it in the first place.
You’d think eventually I’d exhaust the shoutouts, but Lena has also simultaneously become the person who challenges my thinking—and writing—no matter where I look.
As I was strolling back from the grocery store earlier, brainstorming how I could shape this into something that sticks for Lena, or at least something I hope she can soak in, I landed on:
The small stuff is what makes the big stuff big.
For me, that was what started the first piece in this blog, which eventually called into question a whole damn Puzzle she inspired here.
Even with IGD, it all started with small, silly, probably kinda stupid shenanigans that eventually amounted to a whole annual, unnecessarily dramatic holiday.
For celebrities, it’s probably writing snippets of a song and the internet finding it, eventually amounting to their big break to fame.
For LM², it was a lot of little dates. Little study hours for Lucy to learn Lena. Little writing pieces from Lena to Lucy. A small puppy that grew into a big Splash. All eventually amounting to a big wedding and some big vows.
And now it sounds like Lena’s been in her peak pitch szn for her memoir. So I just really want her to know that every small touch that goes into her writing journey is already amounting to something bigger.
And I don’t even think the “big” here has to be whatever happens with the memoir at the end of it all.
Maybe big is already in the question you’re asking yourself: What’s better?
And what makes something better?
It’s the small things.
It might be adding a period here, a semicolon there. And at times you might find yourself saying, “Ope! That made it worse,” only to realize you passed better three edits ago.
It’s not like IGD has scaled to the point where every friend group in the world has replicated it. But it means something special to us.
And that’s what’s big.
Lena,
As I get ready to leave for your bday at the BIG Bad Apple, I’m also here really hoping you’ll take this small piece of advice from me with grace in advance:
It’s not a good idea to rub the cake frosting all over your face, no matter how much you convince yourself of the symbolism and nostalgia that act holds.
And that alone will make the BIG cake all that much better already.
Happy Birthday! 🍰
