Years and years ago when I left home at a very tender age to work for some wealthy people in Chicago as a “Mother’s Helper”, which really meant, “You do whatever we tell you to do” I had no idea what the word “hard” really meant. I found out very quickly. It was the year the astronauts landed on the moon and also the year I grew up.
I was 15 and lonely and a bit mis-treated. (That’s very kind, Kris) but also it was the year I set the pace for my fairly wild and wonderful life. The details will appear in a book down the road but I remember my mother calling me once and saying, “We are coming to get you. This is not right.” I also remember thinking and then saying, “Mom if I quit this what will happen when the next hard thing comes along? I have to do this.” And I did, perhaps guided by Nancy Drew herself who always did hard things, too. That girl was such a cool wildass.
The hard things kept coming and they really never stop, do they? Somehow tackling the first really big one made me realize that the human spirit and heart can withstand so much more than you ever think it can. My life, just like yours, has been littered with loss and failure and lots of hard shit but that’s not what I tend to focus on, because really, what’s the point? There’s more coming so I just pull up my bra straps,( I wear a big girl bra now) and forge on.
Right now I’m doing a couple of really, really hard things. There are moments here and there sprinkled with tiny bits of quiet and with knowing that I am doing the right thing and here’s something that is really the point of this whole blog. Pay attention to this next paragraph.
While we wait in wonder for the next hard thing we must learn how to live in the Joy of the Pause because there are unexpected everythings lined up to land in our lives as if they are backed up planes in a Minnesota snowstorm.
The Joy of the Pause is where we count our blessings and drink our wine and hike in the woods and laugh into the wind and wash our bras and smell the coffee and sit with our friends and gird our loins.
So if you are lucky to be living in one of your pauses right now…get on with it! Dance naked and fill up all your cups and glasses before the next hard thing shows up.
You got this and everything that comes after it.
