Day 98 of The 365 Day Experiment. Vanities.

I don't think I know anyone who doesn't have at least one thing they are rather vain about.  

One of my guy friends is quite vain about his wardrobe.  He prides himself on being different and unique with his clothing choices.  No worries there...he nails it on a daily basis.  Whether his selections are embraced or mocked, he stands apart from the crowd.  For him, that's the mark of dressing for success.

One of my girlfriends is completely vain about her hair.  She doesn't go a month without it being perfectly colored and cut.  The amount of money she spends on hair maintenance could rebuild Haiti, but this is the indulgence that makes her feel great about her outward appearance.

I know another who take his vanity to the extreme.  He is so proud of his body - one that he's worked incredibly hard for, mind you - that he insists on walking the earth shirtless whenever possible. It's not unrealistic to see him walking the streets of Boston sans shirt.   Considered excessive by most, in his mind, if you've got it, flaunt it.

And me, I'd say my vanity is my fingernails.  I grew my nails out when I was a junior in high school.  Someone told me I had stubby fingers, and the comment stung.  My fingers were obviously never going to grow longer, but growing my nails long gave the illusion of sporting stilettos on my digits.  And I was hooked.  

I have now had long nails for almost 30 years.  Many people assume they are fake, but they are not.  (Quick trick to tell fake nails from real ones:  Turn the hand over.  With fake nails, you can actually see the real nail growing along underneath the fake one.)  There are lots of things I should be more vain about.  I should get my hair cut more often than I do.  If I listened to my mom, I should where lipstick to brighten up my face.  And while I do my best to look pulled together everyday, it is ultimately my nails which I invest most in.  Why?

I think it goes beyond thinking I have stubby fingers.  Getting my nails done every two weeks ensures that I have a solid 45 minutes of uninterrupted time.  I chose a place where the people who work there speak very limited English, so aside from the friendly pleasantries, they leave me alone to be one with my thoughts. I will read.  I will listen to music.  I will create in my mind.  That time is precious to me, because it is such a rarity in my life.  And at the end of it, I have pretty hands as a side bonus.

No matter what lifestyle we lead, can probably zero in on at least one quirky vanity that makes us, us.  For whatever reason, that thing makes us feel good about ourselves, and allows us to take a certain pride.  Some may be superficial like clothing, hair, body or nails.  Others may be more cerebral such as a unique talent or skill that one wears as a mark of his or her own brand of greatness.  Whatever yours is, rock it.  While no one loves a narcissist, having "your special thing" that makes you feel good about yourself can be a healthy form of self-expression.  

Day 97 of The 365 Day Experiment. Celebrating Birthdays.

Later today, my daughter and a small group of her friends will gather in a local mall to celebrate her birthday.  She is turning 13 on Monday.  

For each of my daughters’ birthdays, I’ve tried to create memories that will last with them over time.  One year, we had a “rock star” party at our house, complete with a little karaoke machine and a ton of dress up clothes (mostly junk out of my closet!)  The invitations went out on handmade backstage passes.  I found one of them in a drawer the other day and marveled at how much time I invested trying to create an “experience” for those kids.  Fortunately, I think they all really enjoyed it.

Today, they will be doing a treasure hunt through the mall.  They will meet, and they will be hunting for clues that lead them to different stores.  At each store they get to collect their treasure and the next clue.  The final clue leads them to dinner, where we all meet up.  

They are excited.  It offers these girls a bit of independence and a chance to shop together - what young girl doesn’t relish that opportunity?  I am excited for them.  I won’t get to plan too many more of these for her, and I want to make every one count.

I feel fortunate I am able to do this for her.  And I am grateful our family is happy and healthy enough that on Monday, her real birthday, her dad will come for dinner and we will celebrate together.  And she’s requested a pumpkin pie, her favorite dessert, rather than a cake, which I will lovingly make for her.  I'm working hard to make birthdays about making the person feel special, not about over the top gifts.  I’m trying to teach my kids that just because you can afford something, doesn’t mean you should buy it.  Maybe it’s the Italian in me.  Food is made with love…but apparently so are celebrations.

Oddly, for the time I put into making birthdays special for my own kids, I avoid my own.  I have no hang up about getting older.  I’ve just never understood the concept of throwing a party for yourself or celebrating in honor of yourself.  I don’t judge - it’s your birthday - do whatever you want.  For me, I think it just goes back to the drawing excessive attention to myself issue.  Of course it’s nice if people take a moment to say “Happy Birthday!”…but I feel guilty having people go out of their way to buy gifts or do anything to celebrate.  And yet I find joy in doing it for others.  I know - I’ve got some issues. 

But today isn’t about me and my weirdness.  It’s all about my daughter and ensuring she a great day celebrating with her friends.  Happy Birthday, my newly minted teenager.  You are an exceptional kid, and I am blessed to be your mom.

Day 96 of the 365 Day Experiment. Dirty Mirrors.

The concept of the "dirty mirror" is an analogy my friend and I conjured up when we were developing some leadership work to explain when someone has a lack of self awareness.  As in, the mirror they look into is similar to a fun house mirror - the image is distorted due to their inability to see themselves clearly.  Thus, the mirror becomes dirty.

I got called out, lovingly, by a number of people last night regarding my failure to accept help from the police officer when I broke my shoulder. (Day 95: When Fun & Charity Leads to Broken Bones). The comments essentially stated, "that is SO you," which if translated really means, "you know you are a complete pain in the ass, right?"  Yeah, I own that.

We all have "stuff."  And for people who happen to be reading this, you know I put my "stuff" out there pretty openly.  I think part of the reason I am comfortable doing that is because I'm fairly self-aware.  I am confident enough to know I have some good bits to me.  But I am also savvy enough to understand what is uniquely me, for better or for worse.  And some of those things are worth working on and changing.  And some aren't, because they make me who I am.  For example, that stubborn girl who wouldn't accept a ride in an ambulance may have seemed as though she was out to prove a point during that moment.  And yet, zoom ahead to this past year, and that same independent spirit is what has allowed me to be able to manage through this divorce and single parenthood.  I've needed to rely on that independence.  Over time I've used Windex on my mirror, and it's become more clear when I need to ask for - and accept - help. 

I look in my proverbial mirror often.  I am frequent reassess mode to ensure that I am always open to new feedback, growing, and learning.  With age and wisdom, I've learned that while I'm open to hearing from others, I don't need to agree with it.  Or do it because they think I should.  It takes conviction to know when to stay true to yourself.  A woman friend  shared a story about receiving some difficult feedback today.  The advice given to her was to essentially "keep your ideas to yourself, because you are overstepping."  We talked through her behaviors and anything else she could be doing to be upsetting the people who thought she was overstepping.  She understands her style can be a bit challenging.  And yet she also knows she is smart and capable of adding value.  So should she really keep her mouth shut for fear of upsetting someone?  She's decided not to.  I applaud her.  She knows herself - her mirror is clean.  She is being mindful and sensitive to her potentially off-putting behavior, but also not going to let a fear of being told she may show up those above her get in her way of progress.

I know others who have absolutely no clue how the world views them.  It's been interesting starting to discuss this concept with my kids.  The full length mirrors in their bedrooms are covered with handwritten phrases like "YOLO" and "Some of the darkest nights have the brightest stars."  They have so many of these little pieces of paper hanging around their mirrors, I have said, "You can't see yourself clearly."  And then I explain I mean that both physically and metaphorically.  It's important to me that my kids understand the universe doesn't revolve around just them.  Of course, most kids think it does...but as we get older we all learn life isn't like that.  And I want them to understand that, and be good life citizens NOW, not wait until they are adults to have to figure that out.

Think about your mirror.  Do you have a good sense of self-awareness or is it time to do a little fall cleaning with your own bottle of Windex?  I did a little this morning after a challenging conversation with someone - it left me really questioning something about myself.  It's hard work, understanding your good, bad and ugly and understanding the thoughts, emotions, words and behaviors associated with that.  And yet when your mirror is clear, you have an increased capacity to make positive changes in your life.  A that doesn't just benefit you - if benefits everyone you interact with.   

Day 95 of The 365 Day Experiment. When Fun & Charity Leads To Broken Bones.

A chance discussion about running races this afternoon led to a somewhat ridiculous memory of my encounter with the Santa Speedo Run a few years back.

The idea hatched (if memory serves) about 13 years ago by some of the funniest men I know on a whim over drinks (many) one Saturday afternoon right before the holidays.  The notion: to run down Newbury Street - packed on a Saturday afternoon during the Christmas season -  wearing nothing but a Speedo,  Santa gear and carrying a boom box blasting holiday music…and from a ridiculous drunken stunt, an incredible charity was born.

Today the Santa Speedo Run has over 700 runners and has raised over $1.4 million dollars for local children in need.  But a few years ago, after writing many checks to support my friends and the charity, I decided to become a runner myself.  I am not a runner. 

Let’s be clear.  This is no Boston Marathon.  You run up and down Newbury and Boylston Street.  The whole thing is over in 15 minutes.  And yet I actually trained for this stupid thing.  And my husband, to his credit, tried to stop me.  He said, “What the hell are you thinking?  You do not run.  You are going to get hurt.  If you get hurt, you are driving yourself to the hospital!”  And of course he was just trying to make a point about my stubbornness to accomplish something I thought I could pull off.  

So the day came.  My friend who had promised to run with me backed out the night before.  Thankfully, another friend, a non-participant, agreed to come with me to the meeting place for support.  I entered the Lir, a jam-packed Boylston St. bar with hundreds of already drunk runners, entry form and cash raised in hand.  

I shed my coat, and stood among the throngs of 20 somethings in their various interpretation of “inappropriately dressed Santa.”  I had chosen a red sports bra, emblazoned with “HO HO HO” across the chest and a pair of red flannel tiny shorts festooned with little white reindeer.  I was way overdressed.  I didn’t get the memo that this was the Santa Speedo Run version of “It’s Halloween - dress as slutty as you can and it’s ok because you are in costume!!”  But no matter.  I may have had a bit more fabric, but even at 15 years older than most of the runners, I was feeling pretty good about myself.  Not tough when you are both sober and not bloated from drinking every night after work like many of us did back then.  And when everyone is standing in a bar half naked, there is whole lot of sizing each other up going on.

It was finally race time.  Police had shut down the street and crowds had gathered along the sidewalks.  Runners funneled out onto the street, ready to run.  After some brief warm ups, the music blasted, and the run started…and I took off, ready to show I could run…

And I made it about a block.  If you know Boylston St, I made it to Walgreens.  Seriously.  It was a freezing cold day, and it had recently snowed.  The streets were sloppy, and I hit an ice patch.  I put my hands out in front of me to block my fall…and bam!  Immediately hit the ground, rolled to my left and broke my shoulder…along with achieving some pretty serious road rash down my back.  To my horror, a cop was standing right in front of me, helped me up and asked if I wanted an ambulance.  With blood trailing and a now Igor-like stance with my wounded wing, the stubborn idiot my husband called out surfaced her independent head.  I believe I muttered something lame like “All set.”

With several hundred runners still pouring by me, I did a walk of shame against the tide back to the bar to fetch my coat and keys - and some Tylenol.  My girlfriend looked in horror as I put my coat over my good arm, and I told her where I was headed.  And then I made the dreaded phone call…

Actually having to admit to E that I had broken my shoulder and was headed to the hospital was more painful than the injury and the three months of physical therapy that I had to do.  

And what did I take away from that story?  A few things:

1) Don’t ever challenge me not to do something.  I’ll likely do it anyway just to show you I can.  Even if I can’t.  But at least I tried.

2) I learn from my mistakes (Continuous Learning - Day 93!).  I’m not a runner, and it’s stupid to run on icy ground.  I will do a lot of adventurous stuff, but I’ll stick to writing these guys checks and cheering them on from the sidelines.

3) Sometimes injuries result in useful side perks.  My broken shoulder resulted in a weird bump of bone on the top of it that will never go away…which results in my purse never slipping off.  Score!!

4) No one in the world should ever wear a Speedo.  But on this one magical afternoon, the second Saturday of each December, hundreds of people embarrass themselves in the name of good fun and helping kids.  You gotta love the holiday spirit of that.  

http://www.ssrunners.org

Day 94 of the 365 Day Experiment. What Makes Someone Attractive?

Tonight as we were getting ready to pack up for the day, my assistant popped into my office with her typical hysterical question of the day.  I value her sense of humor, because when I am completely heads down and mired in an impossible problem, she will enter at exactly the right time and ask me something completely outrageous.  And it will always crack me up and always put me in a great mood.  I truly value her for that ability.

What started out as a ridiculous question about the movie Magic Mike sparked a more serious pondering between us…”What makes someone attractive?”  

It would be my assumption that men and women might answer this question very differently.  And I’ve learned through comparing notes with my girlfriends since I learned boys weren’t yukky in about 2nd grade that what I think is attractive is pretty different than the norm.

It’s easy to default to celebrities, because they are an relatable frame of reference for people.  My mom, for example thinks George Clooney ranks pretty highly.  I get it.  He’s a handsome man, talented, accomplished in his field, home in Lake Cuomo, looks nice in a tux.  And yet that man does NOTHING for me.  

This year’s People Magazine “Sexiest Man Alive” lists Channing Tatum.  I’ll give the guy points for fantastic body, but again, I don’t get the appeal.

I have a male friend suggest Helen Mirren was his celebrity crush.  THAT I actually understood.  Yes, she’s older, but she’s aged beautifully.  But you get the sense she’s smart, and great fun to be around.  And in her 60’s, she can still rock a bikini.  She woman exudes style and substance.  He’s in his 40’s, so choosing her, I applaud his choice.

When prompted, my assistant had to think for a bit before coming up with Liev Shrieber.  Yes, good looking, but it’s his voice that turns her on the most about him.  Interesting!

For me, looks actually play a small role.  There are plenty of nice looking people out there, but they have to have something pretty notable to back it up for me to find them attractive.   So, as those who know me well have learned, not too many people make the list.  Fascinated by this, one of my guy friends once ran through a list of about 100 movie stars and rock stars HE thought were great looking, trying to nail down my taste.  He thinks I’m insane.  And I think he’s crazy for adding Prince to his list.

To be attractive, in my mind, it starts with the inside.  You can have a great looking exterior, but if you are a miserable or horrible person, you are immediately unattractive to me.  People who crave the spotlight, and need all attention focused on themselves?  I’m pretty sure I could never date the front man of a band.  I absolutely love The Rolling Stones, and I would take Keith Richards over Mick Jagger any day of the week - purely based on his talent, the love he has for his wife and kids, and his long standing displeasure of Mick’s constant need for focus.

So here’s what I find attractive:

People with great talent in something.  Anything.

People with deep knowledge in something.  

People who live life with passion.  They aren’t just letting life happen to them. 

People who are kind - both to others, and to themselves

People who can make you laugh.  Really laugh.  And not at other people’s expense.

People who take pride in themselves their appearance, but aren’t obsessed.  Well groomed people who are healthy is awesome - people who freak out if they miss a day in the gym and spent hours grooming themselves is a turnoff for me.  

People who have confidence. Confident enough to not give a shit what others think about their choices.  Humble enough to never brag about what they have accomplished.

And great eyes.  Eyes tell me everything I need to know about a person.

It’s funny.  As I read through the list above, these aren’t just the characteristics I find attractive in a man - I wrote “people” unconsciously, but it’s accurate.  The women I found most beautiful have many of these same characteristics, and I love being friends with them.  

And as for guys, I think by now everyone knows my celebrity crush is Johnny Depp - but not just for his looks, more for the for way he lives his life.  But you know who else makes my list?  Richard Branson.   Not classically great looking, but what an awesome spirit and joy for continuous learning that guy has.  

What makes someone attractive to you.  And turn it around…what makes YOU attractive to someone else?

Day 93 of The 365 Day Experiment. Continuous Learning.

Continuous Learning is one of the five Core Values at my company.  It partners together with Disciplined Risk Taking.  I used to think the latter was my favorite, but over time I’ve come to realize I appreciate and value them both equally. 

One of the things that makes my role at the various companies I’ve worked at rather unique is that I don’t just help create the corporate culture - I’m the living, breathing embodiment of it.  If I’m not embracing it, why would anyone else?  So yes, I not only make the proverbial Kool-Aid I ask people to drink.  I drink a whole lot of it myself.  In essence, these Core Values aren’t just something we embrace at work.  They are part of who I am in real life. 

But these two values resonate the most.  I love risk taking.  The “disciplined” piece is the part I have to work on a bit.  In my personal life, I am not overly disciplined; at work, I must exercise more thoughtfulness.  I am playing with investor’s money; other people’s careers.  But it is in those creative moments when I try out a new idea, or I “turn the puzzle upside down” and see the problem in a new way that leads me to a breakthrough moment that I am in my happiest place.  Scratch that.  It’s when I push others to reach past their OWN preconceived notions of what they are capable of that drives me the most.  When I encourage people to take a risk and put themselves out there and it pays off, they are filled with a sense of pride.  And I cheer them on.

But not all risks pay off.  By taking a risk, you are bound to fail sometimes.  As an adult, I am at peace with this notion.  As a 10 year old, I would have been mortified to risk failure.  Today, I realize my best lessons have come from the risks I’ve taken and where I have not been successful.  

Don’t get me wrong.  I love succeeding.  But I love learning too.  And over the years, I’ve gained wisdom with both the personal and professional risks that I’ve taken - especially those that didn’t end the way that I had intended. 

I’ve learned leadership and parenting lessons in this regard as well.  Having a team of people, many of whom are playing their roles for the first time as managers, is a great challenge.  You have to have the faith in them that you’ve provided enough direction and guidance that they can make decisions and operate on their own - a risk in and of itself - and live with the consequences.  And when they fall down, as is likely inevitable with someone new to a role, you help them dust themselves off and gain the learning.  I try hard to reinforce it’s okay to fail, as long as they learn from the mistake.  And then encourage them to try again with a new approach.

With my kids as well.  They are experiencing everything for the first time.  And I am a parent learning as I go.  I have mental notes of what my parents did right - and not so right - with me.  I use that as my playbook, and often push the boundaries; or take “disciplined risks” to see how far I can challenge the three of us.  The three of us going to Italy this summer - disciplined risk.  Attempting to manage being a single mom, with a big job and a big house so my kids don’t have to lose their stability?  Disciplined risk.  Continuous Learning all the way along?  Absolutely.  

I don’t have all the answers.  When I was 23,  a VP I worked with in my first job told me I was very “black and white.”  I didn’t take a lot of risks, and I wanted to know the outcome before I tried something new.   I don’t even recognize that person anymore.  I live in the grey today.  I love the grey.  It allows for adaptability, creativity, and fluidity.  And, or course, continuous learning. 

I’m grateful to have learned that.

Day 92 of The 365 Day Experiment. Tossing the Map.

I am not a big fan of routine. And my older daughter loves it.  Tonight, as we ate dinner together, we discussed what she finds appealing about it, and why it turns me off.

She explained that she finds comfort in it.  For her, she loves the predictability of being able to know what her schedule looks like from day to day.  To know what her after school rituals will look like.  She even has patterns for the way she organizes her stuffed animals around her body as she readies herself for bed.

I’m the opposite.  I love what I do for a living, so I tolerate the structure and organization that must accompany it.   But when it comes to non-work events, I try my best to “lose the map.”  I use that analogy because it’s my vacation behavior.  I have zero sense of direction.  I can’t read a map, so I generally don’t even try to follow one - both literally or metaphorically.  Aside from booking hotels and having a general sense of trip’s goal, I make no plans.  And I do this for a few reasons.

For one, it allows me to live completely differently than the way I am forced to live everyday.  There are no schedules to follow, no meetings to attend, no kids projects due on top of it all.  That in and of itself makes it a vacation for me.

Secondly, it forces my kids to break with their routines.  I do believe routine for kids is good, generally speaking.  For example, I’m glad my daughters have built strong study habits from the early routines I brainwashed them with when they were in kindergarten.  But so is building the ability to deal with change and handle not having all the answers.  Sometimes, waking up and saying “what are we going to do today?” forces them to engage in conversation, employ creativity and develop a sense of freedom and independence.

Finally, it gives ME a sense of freedom. There is something about being a single parent, being committed to my job, and having a multitude of responsibilities that makes me crave whatever freedom I can get because I have so little.  I love my life, but anything I can do to shed some of monotony of the daily grind and routine keeps things feeling fresh and alive for me.

But “losing the map” isn’t just about how we function on vacation.  I am doing my best to live it in my downtime too.  Weekends have become a time for recharging - not hyper scheduled time.  If there is a planned event or activity, we work around it.  And then wing everything else.  We wake up each morning and make a plan for the day, weaving in scheduled plans as appropriate.  I often allow the kids to make the plans, because I want to teach them to be creative and mindful of maxing out your free time.  And mostly, I just want to enjoy our precious free time together.  I don’t really care what we are doing - as long we we are doing something together. 

My younger daughter is a quite similar to me in many ways, and thus often easy for me to relate to.  But it’s my older daughter, on the brink of turning 13, who I am learning so much from these days.  As we shared our diverging points of view on routine tonight, I was grateful to realize that while her natural gravitation is toward the comfort of pattern and the familiar, she has become adaptable and open-minded enough to handle a break from it when it occurs.  And she understands that while she’s got a far less time-boxed and scheduled life than I, why I would find a lack of routine so appealing.  On the higher level, she understands that life doesn’t always go as planned, and if you can’t change and morph, it’s tough to survive.  So she understands while her mom has a natural gravitation to the lack of structure in general, she also tries to push her to break with her comforting routines a bit to help her develop her own adaptation skills.

My best takeaway from this dinner?  I have a kid who is mature enough to actually engage in these kind of conversations now, and that we can challenge each other’s thinking.  Awesome.

Day 91 of The 365 Day Experiment. I Miss Writing.

During this two-month break from my experiment, I learned something very important.  For a non-writer, I missed writing.  My lifestyle in theory doesn’t avail itself to the constant grind of needing to be creative on demand and generate new material each night.  And yet, I miss it.  I miss a lot of things about it. 

I miss the outlet.  And while most normal people would just take to a conventional journal and continue it that way (offline), I have learned I’m not normal people.  I have not forgiven myself for not finishing what I started.  I need to do that, so today, I am powering on.

I am going to tie my new project – You Need Passion – into the original one.  Maybe it’s the appendix.  But ultimately, I’ll take a break from normal thoughts on Sundays and share another bit about the virtual "Road Tour" to living the passionate life we all are capable of living.  Maybe at the end of the 365 Days, with that tacked onto the back (though it will integrated throughout now) it will be something of value for me to look back on and say, “hmm…girlfriend, you actually lived what you suggest to other people.”  At least I hope I do.

So with that reintroduction, a brief catch up.

That last two months have been pretty crazy.  I can sum it up with adventure and illness.

I took my daughters to Italy at the end of August.  We had one week, three cities, and lots of pasta.  It was an amazing trip for a number of reasons.  For one, I went back to my favorite place.  I haven’t been since the kids were small, and I have been quite eager.  Secondly, I did it on my own.  It’s the third trip I’ve taken them on since E left, but the first were lower key…California and Jamaica.  It’s not hard to manage sitting by a resort pool or kayaking on the ocean.  International travel with planes, trains and automobiles was a bigger undertaking.

I’m proud of all of us.  My kids can now order gelato in Italian.  They have seen the works of Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Botticelli.  They have sat in an outdoor café and watched people walked by and just chatted as a family – without any electronics.  They walked everywhere without bitching.  And they drew in front of the Uffizi in Florence – something we always talked about doing.  It might be my favorite vacation ever.

I also got very sick.  I’m still sick.  I had an unidentified illness that took two weeks and a lot of blood work to diagnosis.  I’m fine now – what my doctor thought was something really bad just turns out to be the Epstein Barr virus.  Like mono on hyperdrive.  And it takes several months to get through your system.  I’m supposed to rest and lay low...not so easy for a person like me.  It was a good wake up call.  I can’t do anything to make it go away – it just needs to run its course.  But I’ve learned that I need to take way better care of myself.  When I eat, I eat pretty healthy – but the operative phrase there is “when I eat.”  Eating for me, like sleep, is a luxury. 

I had a really illuminating conversation with an old mentor of mine the other morning.  He was conveying a poignant story of his own personal battle with a cancer diagnosis and how he started taking better care of himself.  Thankfully he is healthy now…but when I started sharing my story of the past year, I said “I have so many things on my to do list, I realize I can’t do them all.  You can really only have 3 things on your priority list.  This year, I chose to focus on my kids and my job.  Everything else had to take second priority.”

To my shock, he said, “Christina, do you realize you said “Top 3 things, and you only listed 2?  You forget one.  Yourself.”

I was dumbfounded.  I have been thinking about that conversation for days.  I never think to put myself as a priority.  I have always heard you should, because if you are happy and healthy, everything else in your life will be.  It just seems like the ultimate selfish act to me.  I’ve got to change my thinking on this…not just on the selfish part – mostly because I think it’s contributing to my health.

I’m good.  I’m happy.  I’m getting healthy.  My kids are in a good place.  I love my job, and I have some amazing people in my life.  Nope, no “special someone.” – that will come when it’s ready to happen.   I’m in a good place.

I’m back…In a whole bunch of ways.