Aneesah’s birthday. Up early to pick up some flowers, coffee and pastries on the way back, gifts, and then both of us at work. As we get older it becomes harder to buy gifts for one another. We get the things we want when we need them, and we don’t really need gifts. Still, we get gifts. I tried to focus on time and effort this year. Finding just the right things. Making things by hand. Making things for the people you love feels good.

During lockdown in 2020, Aneesah created an at-home cinema experience for me based on our favorite movie theatre, the Everyman. She called it the Everybug after our (adorable) nicknames for one another. Snacks, tickets, even took me to my seat. I loved it, and I love her for doing it. Thousands of miles from London, I opened the Oakland location for her birthday this year. Snacks, tickets, even took her to her seat.

There’s something about being hunched over, cutting ticket after ticket—and perforating the edges until you’ve got two that feel perfect—that just feels like time well spent. I don’t think I’ve ever truly regretted making something, because making something is sort of the point. It’s the act of making. The time spent. When you’re doing it for someone else, it’s even better I think. We should all make things for one another.