Dispatches from the Dopamine Den—March 2026
In the last several days I’ve gained dozens of new subscribers, which is a big percentage jump for me! Many of you found me through my post on 13 of my favorite book series, and so you might not be expecting a post not about books. Once a month, I share little updates about our life, what we’ve been watching, and anything else that feels important (as well as things that are not). You can read about the Dopamine Den here.
In general, I do mostly write about books, with some personal essays scattered throughout. If you’re not interested in reading this post, that’s totally fine. May I suggest one of my previous posts about books to read while you wait for the next one?
On April 1st, you’ll get a round-up of all the books I read in March, so you can look forward to that. In the meantime, please leave a comment and introduce yourself or reply to this email!
The shelves in the Dopamine Den got a spring refresh this month when I pulled out some of my favorite little bird figurines.
Life Updates
Newer readers may not know that my husband is a master at gardening.1 Throughout the year, he tends our front and back yards in such a way that there is always something interesting to look at. Our redbud tree was the first big pop of color after a gray winter, and it brought me joy every time I stepped out the front door.
The month started out with our second annual church women’s retreat. We rented a large house on the coast, about an hour away, and 16 ladies gathered together to sing, pray, play games, eat, and learn what the Bible says about prayer. It was a joy to organize this and I was also very glad when it was over, because it consumed my life for the weeks leading up to it.
Part of the reason why it consumed so much time was that I decided I needed to design print materials for the retreat, which no one asked for or expected. I really enjoyed this, though, and now that I’ve done them once, maybe it won’t take me as long next year. Pictured above is the folder that everyone got in their “swag bags,” which also included a Psalms journal and treats.
A mere two days after the retreat, we had to say goodbye to our dog, Neyland. I wrote about him last week. It was very sudden and hit me much harder than I expected it to. I’m still not used to him not being in our home.
It was a real rollercoaster of a month, though, because our youngest son turned 6! He was only ten days old when we moved to Georgia, so every year his birthday also commemorates another year in this place we have come to call home. We had a family birthday dinner at home with an ice cream cake made by my amazing mother-in-law, and we also celebrated at the park with his friends. The park party also included a visit by a snake named Clarice who belongs to a friend from church, because the ONE THING Noah wanted at his party was for there to be a reptile. I have no pictures of this for obvious reasons.
Christian and I went to our first wedding in a long time, and the first one he hasn’t officiated in an even longer time. It was a free date night in downtown Savannah at a beautiful venue.
Another big moment this month was a hike I went on with the kids at a state park. We had to drop our second son off for a Scouts campout, and so I decided the little kids and I would explore. We ended up walking a mile out and a mile back, which may not sound like much, but it was the farthest I have walked without pain in more than 18 months. The Lord has been so kind to give me a wonderful doctor who didn’t stop trying to figure out how to get me to a place of being pain-free. He’s also been kind not to let me fall into a pit of despair at not being able to exercise by walking or running.
We celebrated my 40th birthday 10 days late with an excursion fitting for people our age: we walked around Costco, walked around a bookstore, ate at a restaurant, got ice cream at Culver’s, went to the movies, and then came home and went to bed. I’ll share more about the movie in a minute!
Our month had a delightful ending with a visit from some friends we have known for more than a decade. Christian and Steve went to seminary together in the early 2010s, and they have stayed in touch ever since. Christian and Steve have hung out over Zoom for years as part of a study group, but they hadn’t seen each other in person since 2014. They planned an anniversary trip to Savannah so they could come to our church and take us to lunch. What a gift.
Watched
When I looked at the list I was keeping of everything our family had watched this month, it made me feel like we watch way too much television. You are free to think this as well, but in our defense, watching shows is how Christian and I enjoy spending our infrequent quiet nights during the week as well as our weekly date night.
What We Saw at the Theater
Going to the movies for my birthday was a very special treat, on account of the fact that it costs approximately $857 to go to the movies now and we also have to feed six people three meals a day, including two man-children. We usually go to the movies once, as a family, on Thanksgiving Day. (This last year was rare in that I saw all three Lord of the Rings with our oldest son at the theater.) When I realized Project Hail Mary would be out in time for us to go as part of our date, I was thrilled. I loved the book but was worried the movie won’t live up to how much I loved the book. I’m so glad to say that the movie was fantastic. I was spellbound; Ryan Gosling was amazing; seeing it on the big screen was immersive.
What I Watched By Myself
I don’t watch a ton of things by myself, but when I do, it’s usually in the background when I’m working on a mindless task.
🎥 Eddington (HBO Max)—Last year on my birthday I began a tradition of watching a movie by myself while the kids were at school. I watched The Unbreakable Weight of Massive Talent at the recommendation of a friend. This friend was trying to convince me that Nicolas Cage is a good actor. I just watched the movie for Pedro, and when I saw he was in a new movie about a small town during the pandemic, I was all in. This movie starts out relatively tame and then in the last third comes completely unhinged. I enjoyed it, but it is not for everyone.
🎥 The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)—This popped up as something “I might like,” and because it had been nominated for an Oscar, it seemed worth watching. It is a documentary about incarcerated men in prisons in Alabama. You will not come out of watching this with a high opinion of Alabama lawmakers (for example, in a hearing, one of them says that it would be better if anyone who commits a crime was executed immediately.). This is a sad documentary, but if you’ve read The New Jim Crow it will have some similar themes and I think it’s an important thing to be aware of.
📺 Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (Netflix)—You’ll see in my March reads (coming out Wednesday) that I read a book written by a victim of Jeffrey Epstein this month. I honestly haven’t paid all that much attention to the Epstein situation other than to be concerned at the number of high profile people who were apparently named in the files. This documentary has four episodes and tells the whole sordid story of just some of the horrific things Epstein did as well as the people who were complicit in him continuing to cause harm. It is dark. I found it filled in some pieces that were missing from the book I read.
What I Watched with Christian
As I said above, watching stuff together is one of our preferred activities. We do have conversations and connect in other ways throughout the week, but this is our favorite way to relax on the occasional nights we’re both home for more than one hour before I crash at 10 p.m.
📺 Mob War: Philadelphia vs. the Mafia (Netflix)—Who doesn’t love a good documentary about the mob? This was fine, something entertaining, but not one of the most interesting ones we’ve watched.
📺 Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix)—Neither Christian nor I knew much about Combs and his recent legal issues, so we are currently watching through this together. So far I’m not finding Puff Daddy to be an upstanding dude.
📺 The Pitt—Season 2 (HBO Max)—All the episodes aren’t out yet but we are now caught up to the most recent episode. I love this show!
📺 Neighbors (HBO Max)—I was surprised Christian wanted to watch this, as it borders on reality television, which he hates. Each episode highlights two arguments between neighbors about mostly insane things. There was only one episode where we felt any sympathy toward even one of the litigants. Most of the stories take place in Florida and Texas—enough said.
📺 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max)—We binged the first season of this over the course of a few nights and loved it. It almost (almost) made us want to go back and watch Game of Thrones. For an HBO show, it is relatively tame (though there are a few incidents of male frontal nudity—literally no one wants to see that). The child actor in the show is wonderful.
What We Watched as a Family
We try to have a family movie night every week, but it doesn’t always happen. Recently we have been watching through all the movies in the Jurassic Park franchise. We had already watched Jurassic World and Jurassic Park coming into this month. Only two more movies left to go!
🎥 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Netflix)—This movie was fine. Jeff Goldblum’s character is great.
🎥 Jurassic Park III (rented on YouTube)—We watched this a couple weeks ago and I can’t even remember what happened.
🎥 Jurassic World Dominion (Netflix)—Christian misheard me and pulled this one up on Netflix instead of the next one in the series (Fallen Kingdom) but I didn’t notice at first because I did not enjoy this movie at all. Now we have to go back and watch Fallen Kingdom and then watch the most recent release, Jurassic World Rebirth.
📺 Bluey—assorted episodes (Disney+)—On my birthday, Christian picked up pizza and the kids asked if we could watch a show. It was my choice, so I chose random episodes of Bluey. Our big boys may pretend like they don’t still like it, but they do.
What the Kids Watched
The two younger kids (ages 6 and 8) usually watch something while eating breakfast on school mornings. This is a habit that I have allowed because my brain is dead at that time of day (6:45-7:15 a.m.). They went through a long period of re-watching Gravity Falls and Big City Greens episodes that they’d already seen multiple times, and then they began to argue about which episode to watch. One morning, though, they decided on their own to start a movie and watch 20 minutes of it. This has eliminated arguments and I’ve actually enjoyed rewatching some of these in the background while I’m packing lunches and making breakfast.
🎥 Wreck-It Ralph (Disney+)—If someone pressed me to name my favorite animated movie, it might be this one. Our boys went through a long Ralph obsession when they were younger and now our younger two have also watched it multiple times. I’ve probably seen it 20 times, and I still love it.
🎥 Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney+)—The second movie is not nearly as good as the first one, but it does have a lot of fun Easter eggs and nods to the Internet and Disney as a brand.
🎥 Coraline (The Roku Channel)—This is a very creepy movie, but my kids have me as a mom, and they both love Halloween, so this movie does not weird them out. I think it would have weirded out our older boys at this age, but they hadn’t been exposed to as much weird stuff.
🎥 Zootopia 2 (Disney+)—Zoe was thrilled when they finally put this on Disney+ because I had refused to purchase it for $29.99 on Amazon Prime. We saw this as a family at Thanksgiving, and even though one of the main characters is a snake, it did not bother me (animated snakes are less triggering).
🎥 Inside Out 2 (Disney+)—I still think the first movie is better, but as sequels go, this is a solid addition to the Disney collection.
🎥 Up (Disney+)—I had forgotten how wonderful this movie is. No notes.
📺 Dug Days (Disney+)—These are a series of short episodes based on the dog from Up. I laughed out loud. It also almost made me cry as it made me think about our dog and consider if these were the same kinds of thoughts going through his head.
ICYMI
Here are all the posts from this month in case you missed any of them!
📝 Chelsey’s February 2026 Reads | 18 Books
📝 Chelsey Recommends | Anxiety and Depression Resources
📝 40 Years of Frowning Providences and Clouds of Mercy
📝 Neyland Hank Crouch, 2014(?)-2026 | In Memoriam
📝 13 of the Best Book Series Ever (Some You’ve Heard of; Some You Haven’t)
From the Archives
This post of some of my favorite nonfiction books remains one of the most visited posts on my Substack. If you missed it, check it out before it goes behind the paywall at the end of April!
In Closing
The post I published on my birthday was my 100th post on my Substack. I didn’t realize that until I published my 101st post, but I still want to commemorate it. I really didn’t think I’d stick with this for more than a year, and yet I can’t quantify how much joy it has brought me to engage with my subscribers and others who stumble across my writing. I hope to keep talking about books and other assorted things for a long time to come.
As we move into April, I’ve got a long list in my notebook of post ideas: best memoirs, books about cults, clean books about relationship dynamics, the next post in the story of how Christian and I met… I hope you’ll stick around.
You can read a guest post by him about gardening that I posted last December: See How the Gardener Waits