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A Zest For Life

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, so the saying goes. So, what’s a girl to do when bushels of lemons keep showing up? For this girl, it means hair up, messy bun, yoga pants, and getting to work on squeezing the bejesus out of the lemons with gusto. Honestly, who doesn’t love a tall zest for life pour? Especially with the knowledge that the universe is delivering exactly what I have been asking for, keep ’em coming, my lemonade stand is officially open for business, and I am accepting deliveries and orders with resounding yesses! 

I celebrated thirty-plus years of friendship with my Highschool crew. After all these years, the emotion of getting together is always the same, a sense of yes, I am home. I don’t want to jinx it, but I do not believe our friendship comes with an expiration date. 

Maybe it is because we keep the rules of engagement simple, fill each other with enough love to sustain until our next gathering. No one packs a gavel, expectations, or comparisons. It never fails; the vault to our past gets open–Wild remembers everything! But mostly, we make new memories.

Saying goodbye blows, I give extra squeezes, close my eyes and offer gratitude for these remarkable women; not all friendships are infinite. Expiration dates exist, sometimes your phone a friend stops answering. Learning when to loosen your grip and let go is vital. 

Do you ever wonder how certain people seem to have their shit together? The ones you look at and think, wow, how do they do it? How do they manage to do it all so beautifully? I am curious about individuals who appear to have a slight edge and perform at a high level. What’s their secret sauce? What makes them unique? This notion of success has been consuming me. What is success? How do we define it, and why is it that only a handful of individuals explode with ideas?

Does anyone else think we have diluted the term friend? Notice how effortlessly it rolls off the tongue. When did we wed real friends -the ones who have our back-with every acquaintance that crosses our path? – how did the ladies from yoga, the ones we small talk with, get promoted to the friend category? To me, a friend specifies someone willing to carry a heavy load on my behalf. Is there a litmus test for what constitutes a friend? I know we throw the title around like confetti, but recently I am feeling at odds. Does it matter? Should it matter?  

My younger brother is the male version of me – he is curious, inquisitive, and pragmatic. There is one exception, he infuses fun into everyday life. He is fun(ny) to be around- I am a lot of things, but fun(ny) is not an adjective used to describe me. Friction does not exist in our relationship; we are wired the same. It doesn’t hurt that my sisters and I think he walks on water.