"look at the donut, not the hole"

it was senior year. beaumont school for girls, class of 1990. the assignment: for our high school yearbook, we had to submit a quote to go along with our senior picture.

thankfully i opted for a tasteful headshot with a simple black background—no vertical blinds or wicker armchairs for this girl (that was so sophomore year!).

so now all i had to do was come up with a quote.

the pressure was on. for some, the task was a no brainer. "dead poet's society" was the blockbuster movie of the year so "carpe diem" and "seize the day" were the obvious choices. others took the high road: "i wanted to live deep and suck the marrow out of life" a la' Thoreau and the transcendentalists. and still others took the cheesy route. remember that terrible 80s song by timbuk 3? that's right, "the future's so bright (i gotta wear shades)"  [insert groan here]

after intense internal debate, and because i waited until the last possible second to submit my quote or forever be remembered for saying [nothing], i decided.

"look at the donut, not the hole."

i was in honors classes, got good grades, and this was the best quote i could come up with? rather than quoting an author, a philosopher, a president or my favorite line from a cure or depeche mode song, i chose a simple kitschy quote to sum up my credo in life.

should i chalk it up as a bif, the result of a bad case of senioritis?  or the duress of a looming deadline? it's interesting that even when it think about it today, it still resonates. it's brilliant in its simplicity, direct, a bit unexpected, and all about being optimisic. it's who i am. the same mantra then as now. it was an epiphany.

when you look back at moments in the past that have defined you, it's interesting to reflect on your life's trajectory and see whether the thread continues. can you "connect the dots" or trace them back to a single guiding principle? or has time, experience or maturity changed your outlook?

what would your quote be now? if you've got one, say it out loud...and live by it.

taking the plunge

2009 was a rough year. from january thru december, i felt inundated by bad news. at the macro level, i was disgusted by the modern day robber barons pillaging our economy. hearing about how virtually every industry—from banking to healthcare to our food system—was rife with corruption, mismanagement, corporate greed and public deception. on the personal front, diagnoses of cancer for family members and close friends, job losses, financial woes, construction problems with our home, and the loss of a twin that i carried for 27 weeks, were the flavors du jour. the morbid headlines and personal tragedies left me with an overwhelming feeling: futility.

what could i possibly do to make a difference? i certainly wasn't versed enough on the issues to tackle the big stuff (i'd leave that to my husband, a modern day crusader against the "pigs at the trough" of corporate america). with friends and family, i resolved to reconnect. reach out more, make phone calls long overdue, take a few minutes out of my daily grind to let them know i cared. i appreciated them. i was there if they needed anything.

but somehow it didn't seem like enough.

enter christine. my notoriously blunt cousin and the sister i always wished for. we grew up together and spent countless nights laying awake in the wee hours talking about our hopes and dreams. we visited them over the christmas holiday after a several year hiatus of not seeing each other. from the first word uttered, it was just like old times.

“you should start a blog,” she said.

“i know, i should. i just don't know what i'd write about.”

it's not that i'd never thought about it before. that was just the first time someone actually said it out loud...and it struck me. i ruminated. i could start a blog about branding or marketing, but it just felt forced (and god knows there are way too many of those already). how about women and empowering them to find their voice. that one felt a little truer, but too narrow and far too touchy feely.

every social media guru i've ever heard has said the key to starting a successful blog is finding "something you're passionate about." well i wouldn't say i'm passionate about facebook but i do spend a lot of time there...perhaps i could find a kernel of an idea there?

and then it hit me. amid all of the mindless rambling about the weather and my workload and the scrumptious meal i was about to sink my teeth into, i found the answer.

"inspired by..."

it's a photo album i created on facebook with some of my favorite images. photos i've taken of my family, my neighborhood, my city, and yes, of travels to far away lands too. some are landscapes, subjects of empirical beauty, but many are, in a word, simple. shadows from a bridge on wacker. light shining through the trees. clouds against a bright blue sky. my son's toes twinkling before their first dip into glen lake.

i decided to "take the plunge" and write this blog because these are the moments that sustain me. help me get through the nastiness in the world. there's a lot that is ugly, but far more, in everyday life is beautiful. inspired even. you just have to open your eyes to it.