Fletcher Friday Five
Friday Five is a short weekly list of things I’ve been reading, thinking about, or enjoying.
Tribe: I read a really good piece this week by Andrew McCarthy in The Atlantic about friendship and isolation. I’ve written a lot over the last year about tribe, connection, and the importance of having people in your life who know your story and show up anyway. One point especially hit home: friendship requires consistency. Showing up. Life has a way of slowly shrinking our worlds if we let it. Work, stress, responsibility, distance. Then one day you realize years have gone by since you really connected with someone who mattered. It takes real intention to stay connected. And to honestly examine how much time we spend scrolling through strangers’ lives instead of investing in the people actually around us. I think a lot of us struggle with this more than we admit. Worth the read.
Murdaugh Murders: We enjoy a good true crime documentary or movie around our house, and one of the wildest we’ve watched was Murdaugh Murders: Death in the Family. It is based on the excellent Murdaugh Murders Podcast. A tragic story about greed, power, addiction, and legacy turning violent in small town South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to two life terms for murdering his wife and son. This week, an appeals court ordered a new trial because of misconduct by the court clerk during the original proceedings. Prosecutors say they still plan to retry the case because he is “obviously guilty.” I tend to agree. Fortunately for them, they are not in a rush. He is already serving 40 years for other crimes.
Where it came from: I used the phrase “bat shit crazy” this week. I used it appropriately, but realized I wasn’t sure where it came from. So down the internet rabbit hole I went. The best theory traces it back to the old phrase “bats in the belfry,” meaning someone had chaotic thoughts flying around in their head like bats in a church tower when the bells rang. That eventually became “batty,” and apparently here we are. It also appears to have gained traction among Vietnam-era service members, which honestly feels fitting for that entire war.
Quote I’m Considering:
The True Champ: Minor league baseball is the best. I’ve seen monkey riding dogs, fans in giant bubble balls colliding into each other, mascots gone wild, and some truly terrible dance competitions. One team even had a Tanya Harding night. The same evening they gave away miniature bats. But I think my favorite promotion might be Champ, the Durham Bulls official bat dog. Watch this short video and I promise you will smile. CLICK HERE. He has his own Instagram that you can follow as well.
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Have a great weekend.
Nathan
I like your words and I consider you someone worthy of spending time with as I digest them each week. My friendships are many, but the most cherished I find at the soon to be age of 87 yrs. old, are those that I still correspond with from high school. Peoria High, class of 1957, with the few remaining members out of a class of 339, scattered across the country, still traveling, smiling, and cheering each other on. I admit to reading the In Memoriam's in our bi-monthly newsletter from the school and pausing as each new name from our class is added and remembering who they were then, what they looked like, and wondering the many paths their journey took them on. On another note, I thoroughly enjoyed the Murdaugh Murders and did not realize that a new trial had been ordered. My take? He's guilty! He was "bat shit crazy" for thinking he could get away with it.
I loved the quote by St. Francis Assissi and I'm going to reference it to my belief in our current political structure. I think we have two inefficient , insufficient parties which have led to a disastrous situation currently. The little bits I can do that are necessary, mainly being an informed voter may lead to what many think is the impossible if we all do it.
Have a great week, Nathan! You've got this!