I tend to be ravenous about advancing my career. Every year, every opportunity I snatch or miss is always an occasion for obsessing about what I could have done better. And while I love my family and friends, I don’t always show them what they mean to me.
Now, I’m reaching an age where I think much more about who I want to be as much as what I want to do as an artist. Finding myself at dinner last week with friends as I reached my birthday, I had to think for a minute when a friend asked if I had any thoughts on where I’m going.
The first thing I thought about was that it’s been too long since I’ve seen the people I grew up with or who I became friends with during my twenties. The time I spent with everyone shows me how strong you can become when surrounded by people you’ve known for a while. In my usual day-to-day routines, I take walks, write, eat, talk on the phone, do errands, and send emails, but have to work harder to connect with people.
When I’m visiting good friends and family, we’re able to pick up where we left off instantly, and our lives reflect that closeness. I’m lucky to have a husband and even luckier to say we are happy after more than two decades together. Would life be perfect if I were nearer to other relatives and friends? No, because nothing is perfect. But it would be a whole lot closer to the kind of life I’m looking for.
What I discovered during the past two weeks about the people I love: When we are together, we share everything. We are braver, funnier, stronger, more perceptive.
Do they miss me as much as I miss them? I don’t really know. I can say it felt enormously good to be with them and made me second-guess my choice to move to the Midwest many years ago.
Photo: Taken by a friend; property of the author
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