“Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life - it has given me me. It has provided time and experience and failures and triumphs and time-tested friends who have helped me step into the shape that was waiting for me. I fit into me now. I have an organic life, finally, not necessarily the one people imagined for me, or tried to get me to have. I have the life I longed for. I have become the woman I hardly dared imagine I would be.” ― Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Today was a rainy Tuesday. It was also my birthday. Tuesday doesn’t exactly call to mind PARTY!!!!!!!!! But it was an exceptional birthday. Andrea is very good at making my birthday great. My birthday is 4 days prior to hers, which sets a high bar. It also, as she likes to point out, makes me 8 years older than her for those 4 days.
This was my second birthday with this set of colleagues. I’d been with my prior company for 9 years and changing company’s and industries was a tough transition for me. It took a long time to settle in and hit my stride. For a long time, I was homesick and longed for the familiar. Time creates space and within that space I’ve come to realize that while, yes, of course, it is the people I miss. I miss a point in time with those people. When the one colleague’s spouse was alive and well. When that one was sober. When the group traveled in a pack. You can’t go back to a point in time.
Today, at this point in time during our journey together, my colleagues showed me a great day. These people know me, they get me. Being known and understood can be both exhilarating and a little scary. You have to show some vulnerability for that to happen. This much I know is true. And….
Any day can be an exceptional day. Even rainy Tuesday’s.
Trust your intuition. I’ve never heard anyone say, “Ugh. I wish I hadn’t listened to my gut!”
I have no respect or trust for people who aren’t genuine.
The highest compliments that I can ever receive are about me being genuine and/or a good writer.
I feel blessed that anyone reads a single word I write.
Because you cannot go back to a point in time, it’s really important to practice mindfulness. Which is hard AF.
I believe that the universe has my back and I trust the timing of the universe - - even though that timing is seldom aligned with my own. Which is to say that the universe takes its sweet ass time.
Gratitude can cure most ills.
Never grow too old to play or to be silly. It's play and silliness that keep us alive.
You can never have too many books or office supplies. But strange and beautiful things are to be treasured.