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Jeff Bridges shared a poignant note about his recovery from cancer and COVID

Jeff Bridges shared a poignant note about his recovery from cancer and COVID
Jeff Bridges photo by Gage Skidmore/Wikicommons

An image from Jeff Bridges' personal note on his website

Way to bury the lead, Jeff! Yesterday's news of Jeff Bridges' cancer remission revealed the beloved Hollywood icon also faced COVID 19, which had him hospitalized for over a month. This put many things on hold, including filming for his new FX thriller series Old Man.

Taking on chemotherapy is no easy task. Pile that onto losing smell, restricted breathing, and medical isolation, and anyone would want to throw in the towel. But for the ever optimistic Bridges, dealing with two health crises simultaneously became a beautiful life lesson, which he shared in a handwritten letter found on his website.



His letter starts with a brief, lighthearted telling of his cancer/covid experience, saying covid made "cancer look like a piece of cake," and "Covid kicked my *** pretty good, but I'm double vaccinated & feeling much better now." He even granted us a rather impressive Darth Vader doodle.



But what comes next is the real tear jerker:

"While I had moments of tremendous pain...getting close to the Pearly Gates...I felt joyous and happy most of the time. This brush with mortality has brought me a great gift. Life is brief and beautiful. Love is all around us, & available @ all times. It's a matter of opening ourselves up to receive the gift WE, (I) want some other gift that Life isn't giving us. I mean, who would want to get Cancer and COVID? Well...it turns out I would. I would, because I get to learn about love, learn things that I never would have if I never got it.

Jeff goes on to share exactly what he learned, and it's a message that really hits home, both literally and figuratively:

"Here's a flash I had: Home is a place where a person can receive, give, and learn about love. And that place, HOME, is really wherever you are @ any given moment, right now, for instance."



He then recommends some interesting book titles, song selections, and even a video about albatrosses, which I think we can all agree has equal value.

For anyone struggling to see the gift in times of pain, may Jeff's candid and genuine words remind you to view wherever you are as an opportunity. An opportunity to learn, grow, and most importantly, to love.

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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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Education

3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

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Mom has something to say... strongly say.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, are a conservative group who aren't known for being vocal about sex.

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@ustheremingtons/TikTok

There's a lot to be gleaned from this.

Participating in paternity leave offers fathers so much more than an opportunity to bond with their new kids. It also allows them to help around the house and take on domestic responsibilities that many new mothers have to face alone…while also tending to a newborn.

All in all, it enables couples to handle the daunting new chapter as a team, making it less stressful on both parties. Or at least equally stressful on both parties. Democracy!

TikTok creator and dad Caleb Remington, from the popular account @ustheremingtons, confesses that for baby number one, he wasn’t able to take a “single day of paternity leave.”

This time around, for baby number two, Remington had the privilege of taking seven weeks off (to be clear—his employer offered four weeks, and he used an additional three weeks of PTO).

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All images via the CBS/YouTube

Basma Hameed runs a tattoo shop, of sorts...


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Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.

Updating the kitchen.


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Library of Congress

When we think about the era of American slavery, many of us tend to think of it as the far distant past. While slavery doesn't exist as a formal institution today, there are people living who knew formerly enslaved black Americans first-hand. In the wide arc of history, the legal enslavement of people on U.S. soil is a recent occurrence—so recent, in fact, that we have voice recordings of interviews with people who lived it.

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