Cobbler in your Area

and other local news

Do you belong to any community listservs? They’re a wild and coveted joy of mine. You can find out so much about who lost a bunny, who is looking for a math tutor, who is having a yard sale. When I was little my mom forwarded me an email from our neighborhood listserv about a family that lost their turtle. I remembered thinking well- it couldn’t have gotten that far.

It’s important to know where you live, who lives around you, what’s going on. It’s crucial to say hi to your neighbors and the person who makes your coffee and slices your bagels and sells you a unique combination of tampons, CBD seltzer, ritz crackers and Advil at the bodega. 

Another anecdote for you and the reason behind the title of this weekend edition pillowtale- the cobbler in your area. I’m guilty of sometimes reading things too quickly. A nice lady was looking for a good cobbler in the area. I told her about my favorite bakeries. Not sure along the lines of cobblers but they have great pies, croissants, quiches and cakes. She replied kindly that she needed her shoes repaired.

A lot can get lost in translation. A lot of meaning falls through in haste. Nobody was harmed for my misunderstanding but it occurred to me that if I had taken the time to contextualize her request and if I wasn’t starving at the time I probably would not have assumed a woman logged online to ask her neighbors where to buy an old timey pie.

I’ve been guilty of often moving too fast. Thinking I needed to run a TV show by 28 or I’m a failure. I now know that as long as I do it by 30 I’ll be totally fine. What arbitrary deadlines have you set for yourself? How have you learned to have grace with your timelines? There’s so much room for error and that’s so important. You make plans and god laughs etc.

The thing I love about listservs is it’s a constant reminder that every person has a life. There must be a better way to say that but I’m sticking with it for now. Everyone has a place to be and a root vegetable to roast and a kid to teach about fractions and kindness and why we can’t wear white pants for some reason after Labor Day. If you live in a big city like I do, it can be very hard not to drown out communities as noise. To think of crowds as a mass instead of a collective of individuals. It’s hard to remember everyone walking around Times Square has a sibling or a hobby or a canker sore. Sometimes all three- this is indeed the land of opportunity. 

A note about community- you have to go out and get it because it’s not coming to knock on your door. Unless your community is Jehovah’s Witness’. Or if you want to buy and sell knives. Or cookies. Honestly there might be great communities that come to your door so yeah, I should proofread these more. Another day.

Someone told me Steve Buschemi lives in my neighborhood. That might be true, but it’s not important to me. He’s just a dude whose face happens to be familiar to millions of people. Celebrities are just people. The real famous people are girls on Instagram who want you to love your curves for 3 small payments of $19.99. Go for a walk today and see what you find, who you run into. And if you know of a place to repair shoes, let Sandra know.