With a new year on the horizon, self-reflection is also on the rise. Trisha Cole, an L.A.-based marketing professional and mom of two, has just the tool to aid families in deepening their reflections — and even to wrap them in a bit of joy and deliciousness. Cole’s family guidebook, “Life at the Dumpling,” offers us a chance to remember where we were in March of 2020 when life suddenly came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And as we approach the fifth anniversary of the pandemic this March, “Life at the Dumpling” is a reminder that joy and togetherness are critical ingredients in times of uncertainty.
The 168-page book is filled with black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations begging to be colored and 46 color photographs. The book is a potpourri: a remembrance of an historic time in our collective recent history, a family cookbook, creative family projects, a manual of how-to’s on topics ranging from car camping to throwing a party, poetry, games, inspirational quotes and more.
Pandemic Reflections
When the shutdown happened, Cole immediately saw it as opportunity. “I went back to work when each of my girls were four months old, so being told we got to be home together when they were 10 and 13 was very much a pinch-me moment for me,” she says. “It was as if this beautiful gift of time was suddenly dropped in my lap, and I wasn’t about to squander a minute of it.”
She began writing and designing (by hand) newsletters for friends and colleagues. The newsletters she wrote from March 2020 to March 2023 make up the heart of “Life at the Dumpling.” The name “Dumpling” is in honor of what Cole and her family call their small house that sits on a hill in Northeast L.A.
It takes a certain kind of personality to be able to adapt quickly in such an intense time and find a way to make it work in one’s favor. “The newsletter was about finding the joy in everyday living and listening and observing all that was happening around us,” Cole says. “Instead of focusing on the ways we were suffering, the newsletter was a way to focus on the ways we were thriving and a way to encourage others to look at how they were thriving, too.”
Bonding with Family and Community
Yet what sparked the interest in wanting to create the newsletter was something that so many were seeking at the time — connection. “That first week home, I immediately felt compelled to find a way to connect with people,” she says. “I wanted to write a letter to our neighbor who had moved away, and I realized that there might be others out there who would like to get something in the mail.
After letting her husband in on her vision, Cole got to work on making it a reality. “I announced to my husband Bruce that I was going to create a newsletter, and while I was slightly nervous about what that would mean or look like, I decided I’d share some of the ways we were living our lives and the things we were learning as a family while being home,” Cole says.
Recipients say they looked forward to Cole’s newsletters arriving in their mailboxes. And Cole hopes the book version of “Life at the Dumpling” gives new readers that same rush of anticipation and connection.
