Hi friends,

It's been an emotional week. From the highs of reuniting with my extended family (my uncles and cousins) to the lows of a friend's passing, I spent a lot of this week reflecting on the beauty and fragility of life.

Rose Bud Thorn 🌹🌷🌵

🌹 My incredible trip down to Los Angeles had several fun moments, but the highlight of this week was by far seeing my uncle and cousins. It's been over fifteen years since we were all together. My Uncle's shared traits with my mother are astonishing — they are like male and female versions of each other. My long talks with my mom showed me the challenges she's dealt with moving to this country to raise us. As I spoke with and learned more about my Uncle, I could see he's faced his challenges, and I just felt that immediate compassion for him — really for him and my parents. For my cousins, it was incredible to see them! We are around the same age, and we have so so much in common. It sucks that we haven't spent any time together until now, but we are determined to change that moving forward. For the first time, I'm excited for the holiday season before Thanksgiving!

🌷 My bud for this week is just school starting on Monday! I've met a few students already, and I can tell it's going to be busy but fun! I'm still settling on classes, but they're all great options.

🌵 I thought I wanted to reflect publicly on my friend's passing; however, I think I'll keep the bulk of my thoughts to myself. All I want to say is that life is really short and anything can happen at any moment. I think this is why I'm even more emotional about spending time with my cousins this week because I couldn't imagine going through life having missed this potential connection. I don't want to live life in fear of disconnection (whether physically through the loss of life or relationally through not even having the chance to connect); instead, I want to continue seeking connections with others for the sake of joy. I hope that makes sense — and if not, message me, and we'll talk.

Book Talk📚

I've spent this week split between The Dark Forest, which is the second book in the Three-Body Problem Series, and Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen. The Dark Forest had a slow start and has a very different vibe from Book #1; however, as the story progresses, I am stuck in and can't wait for some of its key moments. As for Things We Lost, any story about immigrating to the US and the struggles faced already has me connected. I already have a few predictions brewing but let's see how they unfold.

Intentional Content Consumption📰

Podcast — All Things Considered: City Infrastructure Must Evolve To Protect Residents From Extreme Heat

• This episode of ATC hits on several key points I talked about in my Extreme Heat video! It's a good recap and hits on several points I didn't mention. It's worth the listen!

This Week's Video 📹

Thanks for reading and reflecting this week! If you aren't subscribed to get this in your inbox weekly, you can here!

Best,
Awoe ✌🏾