Weekender #234

💳 2x miles on every purchase, plus a limited-time 75,000-mile offer that likely won’t be back this year.

🗓 Administrative Professionals Day is coming. Steal a few standout celebration ideas before it sneaks up on you.

💰 These 10 strategies can help women step into their growing financial power.

🤖 OpenAI is learning the hard way that copyright law still applies.

Wow. I am genuinely humbled by the number of responses I received for my article, “My Best Friend’s Mom Is Dying. I Don’t Know What to Do.”

So many of you responded with incredible advice, loving and supportive messages, and what honestly felt like a hug in email form.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciated all of that love. And I know I’m not the first, nor will I be the last, to experience something like this. Grief and loss are universal emotions we’re all going to share at some point. It’s part of the journey. It’s what makes the highs feel high, and that’s partly why I’ve learned to appreciate the lessons that come from the lows.

If you’re struggling with how to support a loved one who is caregiving for someone with cancer, or if you’re going through a similar journey yourself, I wanted to share some of the responses I got and the themes that came through.

Don’t ask what they need. Just show up.

This was the number one piece of advice: Stop asking “What can I do?” and just do something specific.

As one reader, Michele, put it: “The hardest thing is having folks ask what they can do to help. You are asking me, in a very overwhelmed state, to make yet another decision. It’s mental work that I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with.”

Instead, tell them what you’re willing to do: “I’m dropping off dinner Tuesday at 6 PM. I’m doing a grocery run Thursday; text me your list. I’m coming over Saturday to do laundry.”

Remove the decision-making burden. They’re already making thousands of life-and-death choices. Don’t add to it.

Meals, cleaning, and the invisible essentials

Multiple people mentioned how meaningful it was when someone just handled the basics: homemade meals, Seamless gift cards, or showing up with their favorite coffee or snacks.

One reader shared how a friend left a container of hot chili with all the toppings at their door after a long hospital day. Another hired a cleaning service to come every other week so the family could focus on being together instead of tidying up.

Those invisible daily tasks? They become monumental when you’re in survival mode.

Sit in silence. Just be present.

Julia wrote, “The night my mom died, my best friend came and just sat with me on my deck—no words, just presence.”

You don’t need to say the right thing. You don’t need to fix it. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is show up, sit beside them, and just be.

One reader suggested calling every day at 9 AM: “If you want to chat, answer. If you don’t, ignore my call. But I want you to know I’m thinking of you.”

Capture memories before it’s too late

Harriet shared something that hit me hard: “I wish I had recorded conversations about her past and what she valued. I wish we had created pieces together. I didn’t realize I only had 2 months.”

If your friend’s loved one is still well enough to talk, encourage them to record stories, ask questions, preserve voice recordings. These become treasures later.

Grief doesn’t end after the funeral

This was huge. Multiple people said that support disappears after a few weeks, but the grief continues for years.

Check in on birthdays. Holidays. The anniversary of their parents’ passing. Send them stories about what their mom said or did. Remind them of the good memories.

Michele said it best: “The first year after my mom passed was hard, but the second year almost broke me.”

Don’t disappear. Keep showing up.

You don’t need to have all the answers

Here’s what I’m taking away from all of this: I don’t need to be perfect or have the right answers, I just need to be present.

Grief is messy and uncomfortable and there’s no script for it. But showing up, even imperfectly, means everything for them.

To everyone who shared their stories, their pain, and their wisdom with me: thank you.

Thania (TA Content Mgr)

You want to send something — a thank-you, a client win, a “welcome to the team” — and then the spiral starts. You don’t have their address, you’re not sure what they’d actually like, and whatever you pick is going to get shipped to someone who may never use it.

With Goody, you set a price point, your recipient picks their own gift from 500+ brands, and they provide their own shipping details. Free to sign up, no order minimums, and new accounts get a $20 gift credit to send their first one.

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📚 Read: The Histories by Herodotus

A classic that blends history, culture, and real human drama into one compelling read. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of power, conflict, and why history tends to repeat itself.

📺 Watch: The Bad Guardian (Netflix)

Court-appointed guardianship abuse is more common than most people realize, and this one puts a human face on it. A daughter fights a slow and opaque system to protect her aging father from exploitation. It’s inspired by multiple real accounts, which is exactly why it hits harder.

🎧 Listen: More by Stephen Sanchez

A romantic song that feels old-soul without turning cheesy. The melody leans vintage, but the emotion lands in a very modern way, like a throwback you’d still proudly play on repeat.

You took the PTO. You slept in. You did the thing everyone says to do.

And you came back to your inbox feeling exactly the same.

Here’s what nobody talks about: there are two very different kinds of tired. One comes from doing too much. The other comes from spending too much time on work that doesn’t fit how you’re actually wired. Rest fixes the first one. The second one needs something else entirely.

Pigment is a self-discovery assessment that maps exactly that gap. It breaks down how you process information, where you naturally create value, and which kinds of work fill you up versus which ones quietly hollow you out over time.

What makes it useful (and not just another personality quiz):

• It separates capability from energy. You can be great at something and still be drained by it. Pigment shows you the difference.

• It gives you language. For conversations with your manager, for restructuring your role, for knowing what to say yes and no to.

• It works for teams too. If you manage people, it reframes the “they’re just not motivated” conversation into something you can actually act on.

If you’ve been running on fumes and can’t figure out why, the answer might not be more rest. It might be a clearer picture of how you actually work best.

👉 Take the Pigment assessment here.

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