So grateful it is Friday and to be writing at the end of a good day, and a long but mostly good week. This past week I’ve been challenged in many ways and yet I am also celebrating an anniversary of my arrival in the greater DC metropolitan area. It’s been quite a year, filled with good times and challenges, tears and laughter. I suppose it has been a year of life in all of its lovely complexity. I spent a great deal of time riding on Mephistopheles the mechanical bull–my metaphor for the often wild rides life would take me on, whipping this way and that and up and down sending me sailing through the air to land in the sawdust only to get shakily to my feet, dust myself off and throw myself back onto the machine. One thing I can say about the last year: it has been anything but dull.
I used to say that I would like to try dull for a while, but the truth is that dull sounds boring. I know, that sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it. The sentiment is, of course, that after too many wild rides on Mephisto that a little calm dullness would be welcome–a calm in the storm kind of thing. Still, I’ve learned and grown a great deal in the midst of the swirl and storm, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. One could ask, “Isn’t it possible to learn as much during calm times as it is during tumultuous ones?” I suppose the answer, of course you can, but I wonder if the learning is as deep. It’s kind of like lifting hand weights that I keep in my bathroom. I could build muscle mass by lifting the five pound weights over and over again over weeks and months until they got ridiculously easy or I could progress to the heavier 10 pound weights and build muscle faster lifting the heavier weights over a shorter period of time. Someone who lifts weights regularly or who studies the physics of weight or the biology of muscle building would probably say my metaphor is illogical or scientifically inaccurate, but you get the point: you get stronger, build more muscle lifting the heavier weight over time. It’s more taxing and also more rewarding.
This week my coworkers have been very solicitous and appreciative. I continue to be grateful for the terrific cast of characters I work with. At times when life at work has been challenging, being able to see the potential in each person as well as the synergistic potential that’s present when we’re all working together makes every thing feel totally worthwhile. We have a lot of work ahead of us and my calendar is filling with a variety of work and meetings and my to-do list is growing. In spite of that I am excited to see where this is all taking us and grateful to be part of it all. There was a time not too long ago when I wasn’t exactly sure what I was meant to be doing; and there are still times when I question whether or not I’m living out my life purpose. But on this day, at this time, in this moment, I am exactly where I am supposed to be. And for that I am most exceedingly grateful.
