What's your resting face?

It's Monday. I'm Here for You.

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I won’t sugarcoat it with fairy dust or funky phrases:

I had a really, really tough week last week.

I also won’t bore you with the saga of it all or dump my noise on your ears first thing on a Monday morning!

But I’ll share this to sum up how thumbs down the week was.

Gemma had a stubborn 103.4 fever on the Forth of July and we rushed her in the car to Queens to see practically the only pediatric doctor working in all of New York City on a holiday who was accepting walk-ins.

Why are you here? She said, entering our exam room, exploding like a firework.

I’m sorry — and umm—grateful that you are here today. I said.

Yeah? She responded, reminding me that neither of us want to be here so get to the point.

I rattled off Gemma’s symptoms as I held her tightly in my arms.

She examined her and rattled back what her diagnosis was.

Hand, foot, mouth disease, she said, opening the door to end the visit that didn’t even last a minute.

[Side note: This is a real thing that I never heard of until I became a parent. But it’s highly contagious — can spread to adults — and comes with high fevers and bumps all of your hands, feet, and mouth. It’s usually not that serious, just painful and frustrating.]

Your face looks SO concerned, she said to me, walking back into the room to judge my resting concerned face.

Concerned? Of course I was concerned! I’m a first-time mom, my baby’s fever has been scary high for days, you’re telling me she has a hand, foot, mouth disease thing, and I have absolutely no idea what to do when we walk out of this place. How could I not be concerned!!!!! Would you rather I be smiling and saying: Oh! The hand, foot, mouth thing! Gotcha, have a great day! Look at me! I’m a chill mom!

Of course I didn’t say any of that to her.

I washed the concerned look off my face and put on a sad one instead. I felt defeated, judged, alone, and YES, Doctor, CONCERNED! When the sad face was on, the tears started bubbling up too.

Act like a mom! Moms don’t cry! Wait, yes they do.

Every kid gets this eventually. Give her Tylenol and that’s it.

I eventually traded the sad face for take me seriously in a meeting face and started asking her questions as fiercely as I could.

One foot of hers was planted outside of the door.

Look, I am concerned. This is all concerning. It’s all…a lot.

There’s nothing to be concerned about, she said. The exit door is on the left.

I sat still with Gemma in the exam room for a few more minutes. We looked at ourselves in the mirror. Gemma made funny faces. I made concerned ones.

Next fourth of July, we’ll laugh about this, I promised her. We’ll drive to Queens just for fun.

I’ve thought about that whole doctor interaction for days now and it made me realize something about motherhood.

Being concerned isn’t a weakness — it’s proof that you care deeply about someone or something. And if that's the case, I'll wear it proudly for the rest of my life.

Love,

Jen Glantz

Ps. Things are on the up and up around here. We’re all feeling a little better on this Monday morning. Plus, I think the doctor misdiagnosed Gemma and I don’t think she had hand, foot, mouth after all. BUT! Here'‘s Gemma and I eating bagels with our resting “concerned” faces LOL kidding.

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Monday Pick-Me-Ups:

💻: How to introduce two people via email

This is my most referenced guide that I pull out and use at least once a week. It shares scripts you can use on how to intro two people via email. There’s etiquette and strategy behind doing this and Nick explains it all in his blog post.

📞:He’s cheating but I don’t have any proof

I started something fun for my bridesmaid business. It’s called 1-800-hotline and people write in their secrets and ask the audience for advice. I’m going to turn it into a podcast soon but I wanted to share this week’s post from a bridesmaid who has a gut feeling the groom is cheating but she doesn’t have any viable proof. Give her advice in the comment section and read what other people shared.

📣:Wait till you hear how much NFL cheerleader make

My new nightly obsession is cleaning the house while watching an episode of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader reality show on Netflix. One of the most shocking things you find out in the show is how much they make as an NFL cheerleader. I asked Adam to guess and he thought $150,000-$200,000. I told him to delete three zeros.

NFL cheerleaders typically earn around $75 to $150 per game, with an average yearly salary of about $22,500, NBC Sports Boston reported in 2022.

By comparison, NFL waterboys make about $53,000 per year, and NFL mascots earn $25,000 per season, the outlet added.

Cheerleaders can increase their earnings through public appearances, which pay $50 to $75 each.

How wild is this?

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⚡Instant Pick Me Ups

📖: I didn’t have a chance to read anything new this week but I’m thinking about rereading some of the books I loved from the last year. Here’s my ultimate list.

🛍️: Here are the items I wore over and over again this week — it was a hot one in NYC!

• I wore these cool pink shoes every day this week — including out to dinner with my friends on Friday night.

• This polka dot dress that’s on sale right now. It’s casual but you can also wear it to events and dress it up with heels.

• I got a pair of Brooks sneakers and have walked miles in these. Love them — so so so so comfortable and a few people even complimented me on them.

🎵: Whether or not I want it to, this song is playing on repeat in my head at least once an hour.

Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is The Monday Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it every Monday, for 9-years, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in your inbox. It truly makes my heart explode with joy.

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