Thanks for the prayers, friends. My whinefest (not winefest, lol) earlier this week reminded me of Lion from the Sweet Pickles books. I used to love that series! We have a few of them still; I should read one to the boys tonight. At any rate, thanks for bearing with me on a down day.

Yesterday was better – I had lunch with a new friend and had the opportunity to speak to a large group (200-300? I’m not a good judge of crowd counts) of colleagues, which is always exhilarating and fun. I got a sweet email from a friend while I was up on stage (which I read after the program, obviously, but it still made my day!) saying how “small” I looked. LOL – I haven’t been called “small” since … ??? … ever?  😀

I really do love my job, and I want to be excellent at it. I think that I’m pretty good at it, and I know there’s always room for improvement, but there’s just a lot of unspoken pressure on everyone right now. Having a brief moment in the spotlight (literally – I couldn’t see beyond the midpoint of the auditorium!) and receiving verbal praise from colleagues and higher-ups was a much needed boost for me this week. Can you tell that my primary love language is words of affirmation?

Today, I had lunch with another new friend, so my emotional bank of girlfriend time has a healthy balance in it now. It was especially reassuring to hear tales of her 1st grader – who, like ours, also jokes about bodily functions and has a skewed concept of appropriate descriptive words.  😉

All things considered, the stressors are still there, but having a less grumpy attitude makes it seem more bearable.