131. Penguin Peeping

Nora’s latest way of finding joy amidst the chaos is watching penguins on a live zoo webcam with her kids.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

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INTRO MUSIC

 I’m Nora McInerny and it’s going to be okay. 

 If you are a grownup listening to this, you are either about to have a day or you have just had a day. My experience of adulthood is that 99% of workdays feel like being put into a vortex of emails, meetings. Half thought thoughts. Half-written sentences interruptions. Cortisol and then waking up from a fever dream and thinking what just happened was any of that real, how is this day already over? And also, how did I basically get nothing done. How can I be doing such a bad job? Of everything. Every single thing. 

And if you are a kid listening to this. Don’t worry about growing up. It’s fun. It’s the best. But kids are also about to have a day. Or have just had a day. Childhood in my recollection. Is not a walk in the park. And I think grownups myself included forget how stressful it can be to wake up and live an entire day. On someone else’s timeline. Many other people’s timelines. 

Someone wakes you up, tells you when to eat what to eat. You go to school, you sit at a desk, you stand in lines. You have to ask to go pee. At least now you guys can drink water. We used to line up for one single sip of water once a day after gym class or recess. Imagine your grown-ups. As chronically dehydrated their entire childhood, because our brains are probably dried up sponges. I don’t know if you can retroactively rehydrate yourself. 

After the kind of drought we lived through. In school. And at home. In the eighties and nineties. Anyway, by the end of a long school day or a long work day, when everyone feels crispy around the edges and the day still isn’t over and you still have to eat food, make that food that you have to eat or go buy that food clean up after the food. 

I drink water, maybe take a vitamin, maybe do something else. You might need a way to unwind. You could meditate. You could do a little yoga. You could do a crossword puzzle. You could listen to music, you could play some music. 

Or you could stay stressed out and make sure you get that stress on everyone around you spread it like a cold sneeze that stress on to everyone. In your orbit. So everyone is miserable. That’s honestly what I do sometimes, and it is the worst and I hate it. I hate that about myself. 

Sometimes I’m the kind of grown-up who just says no. For no reason. And I was actually about to do that the other night. When one of my kids. Asked me a question. A simple question. I was outside staring at the sky trying to take deep breaths and he brought out. My laptop. 

And my first instinct was to grab it from his hands and Chuck it into the pool, but I didn’t. Which is good. Because laptops are expensive and that probably would have been a traumatic experience for him. Because he asked me the simplest question. He asked me if he could look up some zoo webcams. And my first, you know, I was about to say now, now, now, but I didn’t say now, and I didn’t throw my laptop into a pool. I just said, yes. 

And we just hung out for a few minutes. And spied on animals. Which does feel a little weird because do they deserve privacy? Is it weird for me to be peeping into their habitats like this? If it is weird that I’m fine being weird because in just a few minutes, we went to several zoos across America. And most of the webcams didn’t work or were very boring watching snake eggs, hatch is not fun. 

When they’re just laying there, they’re not actively busting out of the egg. So, you know, we didn’t stay too long on that one, but most importantly, we sought the best thing we saw. Penguins real life penguins. On a webcam. And I had forgotten about penguins. I don’t think I’d even seen a video of them in a long time. I think I’d only seen cartoon penguins. And real penguins. Are we better than cartoon penguins? They’re so silly looking. They have the silliest little bodies. Have you seen one swim? Have you seen one swim they’re just shaped in such a cute little funny way. 

Ralph and Nora: That’s what I was looking at, but oh, you can switch cameras. I don’t know. It worked. It worked in the penguins. Oh my God. I’m going to show you the penguins. Yeah. Penguins are the most active penguins in the month. I love how it says more.

Oh my God. They are. Hold on. Okay. Well they’re partying. It’s nine o’clock at night there. I know, the penguins are, look at that. Awww. But it’s so sunny out, so. Oh, I just feel really, I don’t know, I just feel so cuddly, like that one right there. I know. I think that that they’re here and not out? I know. Where they want to be. I know, like they want to be.

That makes absolute sense for their lifestyle and also is just so adorable. They look, pretend. So by the time. My kids lost interest in this activity and it was time to go to bed. I was in a better mood. And sell was one of them. The other one had gone to their room to rage out for a little bit, which is totally fine. That’s something we do. You got to get your feelings out, but. 

Yeah, the okay thing. For a long day of whatever it is, might just be tuning into a zoo cam. And peep in on some penguins. We’re just saying yes to something. 

I’m Nora McInerny and it’s going to be okay. 

OUTRO MUSIC

CREDITS