Boredom as a Lifestyle

Please indulge me while I tell you the story of the first and last time Bee ever claimed she was bored. Bernadette and I were driving Bee and a friend, both preschoolers, to a birthday party. There was traffic. Grace said, “I’m bored.”

“Yeah,” Bee mimicked, “I’m bored.”

Bernadette pulled the car over, took off her seatbelt, and turned around. “That’s right,” she told the girls. “You’re bored. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it’s boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it’s on you to make life interesting, the better off you’ll be.”

~ Elgie, in Where’d You Go, Bernadette? 

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It’s kind of true. And this shall be my new approach to the summer problem of Bored.

“You’re bored? How unfortunate. Hope you figure out how to fix that. As a lifestyle, actually. The sooner, the better.”