Quick study

 

I am a quick study.  Always have been.  Not good at language, math remains a mystery to me, but in non-academic, people-y ways - at that, I can excel. 

My sister & oldest brother are quite different than their baby sis.  They took longer to make connections, to catch on.  Mind you, they had the discipline & determination to slug it out & both did very well in school, both solid upper 80s in most subjects, a couple higher & one or two lower.

Not me - I was a bust in elementary school, even in high school, although to a lesser extent.  While I was quick to catch on to things, I had zip confidence in my abilities.  Worse, I never developed basic discipline, since my attitude s, “Why bother?  I don’t have the brains to make the grade.” 

My middle brother is a lot like me.  From everything I’ve seen & heard, he torpedoed himself a lot in school, too.  As a sister-in-law would say many years later, Peter & Mim were the bright ones, while Mike & I were the social ones.  Praise be for ancient report cards & even letters from Mom to teachers, which tell a slightly, different, belatedly empowering story. 

And here is a crucial lesson to be learned – it doesn’t matter how bright or sharp anyone is if s/he doesn’t apply themselves.  Could be the smartest person on the block, but if you don’t DO anything with it, nothin’ is going to happen.  

Mike was blessed to join the US Navy right out of high school.  No, wait - he joined IN senior year, serving even before graduation.  Went directly into full service after graduation, became a plank owner on the USS Enterprise.  He came out of that stint with self-discipline aplenty.  He owned a successful business in Australia, which he sold on retirement for a nice packet.   

Will always smile, remembering my delight of being at our favorite country inn – Porches on the Towpath, in New Hope – sitting on the veranda with my John, John Byers & his wonderful pooch Mimi, and two friends of John’s, also staying at his delightful hostelry.  The wife’s ever-so-slight accent fascinated me – barely discerned it, wasn’t able to place it.  The couple laughed, saying they enjoyed a multi-national marriage.  He was from the USA, she was originally from Austria; they’ve lived in this country & that, including ten years in Australia.

“Oh, I have special affection for Australia,” I chimed in.  “My brother & his family live in Australia.  He owns a high-end hardware store in Sydney.”

The husband cocked his head to the side, then proceeded to describe my brother to a T.  He was a frequent customer of my bro’s shop, took considerable glee in describing it – and Mike – to me in pretty considerable detail!

Mike made a considerable success of his life – great family, good business, terrific partnership with his wife of going on 50 years.  I’m enjoying the BEST year of a pretty darn fabulous life – in some ways nowhere near as successful as Mike’s (while Mike & Kerry were globe trotters, John & I currently consider a mega get-awayan overnight in New Hope, downright giddy to be getting away to exotic Syracuse NY next month), but off-the-charts in lots of ways that matter.  Good friends, part of multiple communities, work we both love & which is meaningful, a strong spiritual life, a just-right-for-us house shared with beloved cats.  And it just keeps getting better, deeper, richer. 

My greatest triumph – perhaps of all time – is a very recent one.  I got past feeling a flub, got past the negative image of myself that I’d developed as a child & bolstered throughout my tweens teens adulthood.  Amen & hallelujah!  Am turning 65 in a shade over six months & have the joy of this year, those years ahead, being truly golden.

 

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.  Jane Kerschner & I became pleasant acquaintances last year, at my first Leading To Well-Being Conference.  Some months ago, almost on a whim, she became my life coach.  What a profound impact our phone sessions have made!  She came easily into my life, the realization, “Hey, that woman I met months ago  - she might be the right coach for me,” seemed as natural as breathing.  When I realized there was personal work that still needed to be done, I took off two months; we just resumed yesterday, a splendid hour on the phone that sped by.  Finished Daring Greatly this weekend – just a tad after Saturday’s rock ‘em sock ‘em Daring Way workshop.  Last night, looked through my stack of to-be-read books (Fire In The Soul, Live Happy, The Gutsy Girl, Tiny Beautiful Things, It’s Never To Late To Begin Again, Help Thanks Wow were among the tempting titles), plucked out, for no particular reason, Lisa Carr’s Becoming Aware: how to repattern your brain & revitalize your life.   

There, in the introduction, appropriately on page X, was a the just-right description of my present life, of so much of my life:

My work is not work.  It’s my life’s passion.  It’s why I’m here.  My purpose is to communicate messages that inspire positive growth & change.

 

Things do come easily to me.  I see connections that slip past others but seem obvious to me.  That doesn’t make them, or me, less.  It’s just how I process this glorious thing called LIFE.

Above all, I know that it’s a blessing looking back over my life at a wide range of work, most of it interesting & purposeful.  At a birth faith brought me – as intended – to being awake aware active.  That ALL that came before has brought me to this now, where I can say, “Wow!” for all that I’ve been given,  the gifts & graces instilled from birth & beyond, the people who have & continue to make life worthwhile, the awesome opportunities that show up, family & friends, pleasant acquaintance & flat-out strangers who make it all so totally terrific.  Life is filled with abundance.  I’d be a fool & an ingrate not to see that & give a mighty THANK YOU shout-out to the Universe for every bit of it.

All I have to do now is stay out of my own way, put push behind my passions, and experience every moment in my best Mame Dennis Beauregard fashion – LIVE!  LIVE!  LIVE!