How Time Does Fly

Incredible. My last post was May 3rd. It has been just over three weeks. One might ask, "What the hell have you been doing?" Indeed, what have I been doing?

(a) Recovering from a ghastly disease?
(b) Spreading good cheer throughout the world?
(c) Nothing whatsoever, as pertains to getting quiet enough to ponder the big questions?
(d) All of the above?

Ding, ding, ding! You are correct; the answer is (d), all of the above.

(a) Gastroenteritis-A-Go-Go: Came down with the incorrectly named "stomach flu" during a short trip to the cabin, Charlie's house in South Park. Out of commission for a week. (Aside: big thanks to G & E for helping Charlie pack and load stuff into the trailer while I prayed for a merciful death.)

(b) How to Succeed in Business through Others' Low Expectations: Took a temp assignment in Boulder, winning the hearts of employees and executives alike with my dazzling personality and vigorous work ethic. Several people told the bosses to keep me. I found myself thinking, "Why are you so thrilled? It's not rocket science. A monkey could do my job." (Lesson in humility: Filed a pile of forms in the wrong office. Spent a half-hour digging them up to re-file. Evidently, a monkey could do my job. Perhaps better than I.)

(c) What's a Five-Letter Word for "Procrastinate"?: Oh, you'd be surprised to find what you can do to fill your free hours. Crossword puzzles, for example. (New York Times, Boston Globe--those are my favorite, especially the Sunday collections in spiral-bound books. But sometimes you finish a book, and then what? You try to erase the answers from the first puzzle and re-do it but you can still kind of see the pencil imprints and you realize that you know the answer to one of the main clues is B-E-A-U-B-R-U-M-M-E-L-L and you think that you probably wouldn't have gotten that clue right away if you couldn't make out some of the letters from the first go-around and now the fun is gone because it was too easy...and then it's time for bed! Pesky deep thought problem solved.)

Better luck this week.

The Late Bloomer's Club: An Introduction

Do you feel like a chronic underachiever?
Does it seem as though you are woefully unsuccessful compared to your peers?
Do you feel like you haven't gotten around to really living?

Me, too.

I was sitting in my room at the window, thinking of how little I've accomplished in my life, as measured by 21st century American standards: fabulous career, long titles followed by several sets of professional acronyms, house/husband/2.5 kids, etc.

Then I thought, "Hey, do I really care about that stuff? What are my values? Who do I want to be? And is it too late?" My wise inner voice responded, "It's never too late. Unless you continue to watch 5 hours of TV per day and eat whole pints of Ben & Jerry's in one sitting. Then you'll never actually know because your brain will liquify then dribble out of your ears, and your feet will turn purple and fall off." Graphic, but point well made.

So. I am making a committment to setting aside some quiet time every day to explore those questions. The prospect scares the crap out of me, quite frankly. But the alternative? Definitely worse. And who knows? Maybe somebody else out there will look at my rambling/stumbling/blossoming and say, "Oh, for Christ's sake, if she can make something out of that mess she calls a life, so can I."

Welcome to the Late Bloomer's Club.