Meanwhile is what happens in between. The chapter nobody puts on the highlight reel. I'm Dominique — I started this from my bathroom, figuring it out in real time, and choosing to show up right now, exactly as things are. This podcast is about all of it — the good, the unexpected, the unplanned. Every episode is an honest look at what's actually happening — before it becomes a story I tell later. Pull up a chair. Stay a while.
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Somehow it's already September. Four months left and I have feelings about that.
A check in on the meanwhiles. Don’t miss yours.
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I really had to use the bathroom, and I didn't move. Because there was a cat just below my face, another cat on my husband, and my dog at our feet. It was a long weekend morning and everyone was just there. All of us together, completely unbothered by the world. I thought, this is a meanwhile, right here. This exact moment I almost missed because I had to use the bathroom. Okay. Hi. Welcome back to Meanwhile. I'm Dominique, episode nine. This one is a check-in, a September check-in, because somehow, somehow, it's already September. I have feelings about that. Let's go. So September. I keep saying it every year, and I'll say it again. Time is fleeting. It feels like it was just April. My husband and I had just come back from the most amazing trip through the Southwest, Arizona and New Mexico. Highly recommend, by the way. Absolutely stunning. Now it's Labor Day weekend, summer is over, and there are only four months left in 2026. Four months. I'm not saying that to be dramatic. I'm saying it because it's a reminder. A September, meanwhile, reminder that the year is still happening, that there's still time. Things you said you'll do, you still have time to do them. So let's talk about that. I have some things I want to hold myself accountable for before December 31st. First, the 5K. You've been hearing about this since episode one. I signed up mentally approximately a hundred times. And then life happened. It kept happening. My sister shared something called making strides against breast cancer. A walk, a meaningful one, for an important cause. My brother is also joining and some friends. And we're signing up in just a few weeks. I want to say this is what a meanwhile looks like when it finally gets its wings. It took a while. It looked different than what I thought it would. It's not a race I'm running alone. It's a walk I'm doing with people I love for something that matters. I think that's better. Second trips. I want to take two before the end of the year. One with my husband and my dog, somewhere fun, somewhere new, a little adventure for our little family, and one big one: abroad to see my husband's family. We talked about this in episode five. It's important and it's time. Meanwhile, the world is waiting, and so are the people we love. Third, and this one is important, your health checkups, the appointments you've been meaning to make, the ones sitting in the back of your mind that you keep saying you'll get to. Get to them now, before the year ends. Your physical, the dentist, dermatologist, and ladies, don't forget the OBGYN. Don't skip it. Don't reschedule it for the fourth time. Just go. And this goes for everyone, men included. I'm talking to you too. The physical, the checkups, the things you've been putting off and avoiding because life has been busy, and you're feeling fine, and there's always tomorrow. But that's the thing. There isn't always tomorrow, not to be morbid. That's the whole point of meanwhile. Your health is the foundation of everything, every adventure, every trip, every walk, every morning in bed with your pits and your person and the morning light coming through the window. You can't enjoy your meanwhile if you're not taking care of yourself. So add it to your September list, make the appointment, show up for yourself in the most fundamental way possible. Fourth is Dummel. All right, I'm gonna be really honest with you here. Daml fell off completely. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Life got busy and it slipped and I let it. Here's what I'm doing about it. I received a bunch of elementary Dummel books, actual physical books, and my goal for these last four months is to get through them, to learn some phrases, to be able to have a small conversation. And while I'm at it, I also want to keep up with my Spanish and French on Duolingo. Sixth, the podcast. Nine episodes, nine weeks, just over two months of meanwhile. I'm very proud of myself. Not because of the numbers, though I would love to grow and build a little community of meanwhileers one day, but because I showed up every single week, even when I didn't know what to say, even when life was full and busy and complicated, I showed up and continue to do so. I've received such incredible support and encouragement from people around me, and that means everything. Meanwhile, it is still here, still going, still figuring it out in real time, just like me. And here's what I'm looking forward to: fall. I know not everyone loves it, but I'm a fall person through and through. The cooler weather, the cozy sweatshirts, apple picking, farms, the great jack-o'-lantern blaze in Westchester. If you haven't been added to your list, the leaves. Oh, the leaves are so beautiful when they turn red, orange, yellow, brown, and the whole world just looks like it's on fire in the most beautiful way. That's a meanwhile, the changing of seasons, the reminder that everything moves, everything shifts, everything becomes something new, and I'm here for it all. Here's what I keep coming back to as September starts. I am grateful, genuinely and deeply grateful for my health, for my husband, for my family and friends, for my cats, who I realize I have never properly introduced on this podcast. We have two cats. They were very much part of this morning's bed situation, alongside my dog. All five of us just existing together on a long weekend morning. I almost missed it because I had to use the bathroom. Don't miss your meanwhile, even the small ones, especially the small ones. We are still working toward some big dreams. A house of our own, a family of our own. And while we work toward those things, while we wait and hope and plan, length is happening right now. That's the meanwhile. That's always been the meanwhile. Four months left. Let's make them count. What's your September, meanwhile? What are you still holding yourself accountable for before the year ends? I'm Dominique. This is Meanwhile. Until the next meanwhile.
