#4

Yesterday, I went to Staples to buy supplies for my knitting binder (!!! *) - the Staples is really near my house - you just cross some very dangerous roads, walk through the grossest parking lot in the world and voila, there it is.
So, yesterday, I found out that this Staples is going out of business - it was even shabbier than usual in there and everything was on sale (if you know which Staples I am talking about - GO! EVERYTHING IS ON SALE) - and in a completely unexpected turn this made me INCREDIBLY SAD. The employees seemed very sad, and I was sad for them, of course, but I was also selfishly sad for me - and couldn’t quite figure out what it was - the loss of convenience? the basic fact of change? How did I come to have such deep feelings about a STAPLES?

As Peggy and I walked out of there with our purchases, kicking garbage all the way home, I tried to imagine what would be a lovely replacement for the Staples - maybe if the grossest parking lot in the world became a park? And all the former Staples employees could work there as enjoyers of the park? I wish.

*I have become one of those people - knitting a sweater was a New Year’s resolution I had been toying with, that became cemented after I saw my personal hero Chris Raschka in a sweater HE MADE, WITHOUT ANY PATTERNS, at a holiday party. And guys! I have made a sweater*! Is this the first time in the universe when someone actually completed their New Year’s resolution? And now I am addicted to knitting and fully understand how people become yarn bombers. 😳

**a book I have been working on since basically 2019 is almost ready to come out - you can pre-order (and please do!) your own copy of The Adventures of Cipollino here. Here, you can read me and my friend Roman talk about our experiences illustrating Rodari.

*the sweater in question. I used a pattern, I have some ways to go to get to Chris Raschka level.