Mari Andrew

1 week ago | mariandrew.substack.com | Mari Andrew

First Trimester reflections here. God bless NYC. Even at almost 40 years old, everyone has correctly assumed this is my first baby. “And last!” I cheekily grin. “You never know…” they always reply in earnest. This doesn’t so much annoy me as throw me into questioning my own reality. What do they know that I don’t!? Oh right, nothing.

2 weeks ago | mariandrew.substack.com | Mari Andrew

Overheard in my weightlifting group:“What are you training for?”“Old age.”I chuckled at that answer, and completely relate. Ever since I started weightlifting in earnest a couple years ago, I am far more invested in the twin underdogs, ‘Inner Thigh Day’ and ‘Hamstring Day,’ than their more popular, vanity boosting cousins (‘Outer Glutes Day’ is always packed!). That’s because inner thighs and hamstrings are going to keep me from wobbling to and fro on the subway and breaking my hip.

3 weeks ago | mariandrew.substack.com | Mari Andrew

Last Saturday, for the very first time in my entire life, I told someone I was in the bathroom line in front of them. I was mid-dinner on a ripe plum of a spring night, at one of those tiny New Yorky restaurant just claustrophobic enough to feel exciting. There was only one tiny bathroom in the back, and a cluster of young beautiful people swirling cocktails around in front of the door. I assumed they were waiting for it as…a group?

1 month ago | mariandrew.substack.com | Mari Andrew

Since these are the final two creativity retreats I plan to teach (at least for a looooong time), they are particularly special and I hope you can come!!! Here are a few questions you might have:Well okay! I’m coming back to Art of Living Retreat Center in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains to teach a weekend workshop on telling YOUR story. I’ll focus on writing stories from lived experience and memory, with optional art prompts if you’d rather draw it out.

1 month ago | mariandrew.substack.com | Mari Andrew

Here was the planter in front of this godawful civic building in February:And here it was yesterday!The other day I saw a video of a baby goat learning to walk on his first day of life. While much more competent than a young human of pretty much any age, he was wobbly and stumbly, buckling under his tiny weight as he figured out what legs are for on damp green grass.