All Sparks
On Bubbly Drinks
There is always time and thoughts to be had about barbecue. Today, it’s time for bubbles.
Outside, just now, I heard sparklers. Their sharp fizz in the air.
And now, I open a can of sparkling water.
The past few days have been historic: Yes, a country’s 250th birthday. Yes, heat waves in New York sweeping across the days. The highest temperatures in 14 years. I carried fans and a humidifier from room to room, hoping to break the stagnant air. I filled and drank, filled and drank, filled and drank from my water bottle again and again. Filled the Brita, poured the pitcher dry. Repeat. I staved off the heat headaches, replenished the water that made its way out of my pores. My poor upper lip, the first place I sensed, patted dry then prayed it would stay dry again.
How does one break from just water? Don’t get me wrong: Water is everything! Our bodies are 70% of the stuff! Adding some bubbles are a way to make it fun. Flavor, yes, another opportunity for “fun water.” And I feel like bubbles at one point were considered “spicy” (yes, spicy water—although I feel like maybe the spiked waters, like a Ranch water, may also fall into a “spicy” sense of the water… sprout? Family tree? Varietals of water?)
Listen: I love a little sparkle. I used to make sparkling water myself, but I like to make it with fruit and my machine has gotten a bit dusty. I love a sparkling tea. Jasmine or general “green.” Trader Joe’s has a ton of flavors: Yes, the watermelon lemonade is perfect for summer. We enjoy a lime, black cherry vanilla, and raspberry lime. Pineapple is good, but it activates my “geographic tongue” (so my tongue gets super bumpy from the acidity—fun!). I used to be a Polar sparkling water girly, but perhaps that became a bit overwhelming in flavor (an odd sentence for me, yes, but perhaps it’s more about the amount I could enjoy vs. how much I’d let it stale between openings). Hal’s is also quite acceptable, although I haven’t enjoyed a Hal’s in a while. Waterloo I’ve tried, but perhaps the sense of “artificial” flavor came through a tad too strongly.
So yes, I have… a lot of thoughts about water. When you work out six times a week, you need to ensure you stay hydrated. When you experience the stale hot air of the subway systems in the city, you need to stay hydrated. Little clinks of ice in my water bottle. They still melt quickly. I carry a can of bubbles with me to the office. Keep it in the fridge. Open it when I need to wake up my senses, continue typing in the cold air and light of the office. And after today’s workout (3 hours with jump ropes, weights, a weighted ball, weighted ropes), I sit with my little can of bubbles, rejuvenated, here.
And Now We Further the Plot: Your Literary Rec
I decided to start reading one of the books that’s sat on my shelf for years: Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude. It was assigned to me in a class I took in undergrad (it was Fall 2010—a truly transformative quarter in a transformative year). The book came out in 2003 (so to the professor, the book had legs—you typically see a mix of “older” books and hopefully some published within the past few years in classes). In that class, it was a book I skipped (since we were reading a book a week and I figured out which book I wanted to focus on writing papers for (I think by the time this book was scheduled, but memory is slippery), and, well, I was working a lot and prepping my grad school applications for my MFA). Time wasn’t exactly on my side then, but I heard so much about the book that I kept it (versus selling it back for a few bucks). And it traveled with me, from undergrad to grad school to a cross-country move. Books arrive to you when the time is right—and the first sentence ends with “in July.” So here I am, in July, finally reading a notable classic.