the lesson

Yesterday, I learned one of the most valuable life lessons ever...seriously, a top 5. An old boss of mine, who is now my professional mentor, decided to have a tea party yesterday. You can imagine how excited I was about going to a tea party...you know I'm not exactly the dainty, pinkie-in-the-air kinda girl. But then she said that she wanted to celebrate some of the most extraordinary women in her life, and she was inviting me. Well how on earth can I refuse that? People, when someone thinks your extraordinary, or at least wants to put you in the same room with other people that they think are extraordinary, you show up, even you have to behave yourself.

So I'm driving to Medford thinking "What on earth am I going to have in common with these women? Am I even going to understand what they are saying? I hope they don't talk about books. The last thing I read was the last issue of Elle with Beyonce on the cover." So I get there, and I nervously sit down, and the most extraordinary thing happened amongst all of these extraordinary women....I actually had a good time! We actually talked about ordinary things...which I must say is much more fun with extraordinary women.

During the tea, our hostess gave us a most extraordinary gift. She gave us a picture of a frozen lake by her home with a caption that reads "In the midst of winter, I found, within me, a beautiful summer" --Albert Camus (it's appropriately place on a bookshelf in my office..come take a look!). Recently, she had been going through a more trying time in her life, and she felt that the best thing that she could do for her self was to celebrate...and she was right. I could see this by the glow projecting through her the entire time we were together...my friend had found her summer.

Here, my friends, is the lesson. Whether is for a year, a day, or a moment, sometimes life is hard, exceptionally hard. When the going gets tough, sometimes the best thing you can do is be surrounded by the blessings in your life...even when we want to run and hide. Hopefully, we all have friends that can help us do this. If we are extraordinary, we can do this for ourselves.