Friday Feelz

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  • Incredibly sad – Waking up this morning to the news that Anthony Bourdain has died of apparent suicide hit me hard. I remember catching him on TV with his first food / travel show and falling in love with the way he viewed the world. I received two of his books for Christmas and devoured them. I learned that the way he narrates his shows is also his voice in his writing, and I loved feeling like he was human and authentic and smart. The way he would weave stories – whether for his shows or his books – was masterful. And when travelling, he was always truly grateful for the hospitality of all the people he met and shared a meal with. I recall specifically him travelling to a very poor country with amazing street food. When he and the producers realized that this woman had made all of this food and would likely sell little of it, they decided to buy all of her food and feed the children who were milling around begging. A mini-riot ensued – adults were demanding their share – and kids were losing theirs to people bigger and taking it. Instead of excluding it from the show, he wrote a narrative around how hard it is to see children starving and how human compassion makes us want to spend the small amount of money it would take to feed the kids – to help them. But that sometimes best intentions are met with the reality that it really isn’t that easy – and doing what could be seen as a simple act can create a bigger set of problems without accomplishing what you set out doing. Years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing him talk and read from a book he was about to release. In person, he was just like he was on TV or his books. The world is going to miss him. A friend posted this quotation on his Facebook page: "Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go."
    RIP Anthony Bourdain
  • Relief – This week is done – and I survived. Today, at work will be a light day. I don’t think I’ll be putting in a full day. I am looking forward to having my first weekend off in two weeks. And there is nothing on the calendar for the family which means all weekend can be a weekend of rest.
  • Proud – I am truly proud of my oldest. The fact she rocked her last year of high school is awesome. The fact she got into the college she wanted to attend which will be good for the career she wants to pursue. The fact she stepped up to take on a challenging summer job. There has been stress and tears and sleep deprivation, but she has pushed through AND did well. She got back last night after spending four days in the woods. And as expected, she was higher than a kite – no stress, full of confidence, and totally refreshed. I sat there listening to her laughing at her. Throughout her four days of training, she was held up repeatedly as an 18-yr-old who can teach all of the older adults things because she is the pro. She thought it was their way of telling the older adults that they need to take her seriously. I pointed out that they were doing it because they are proud. While most they had groomed for a position like this have dropped out, she is the one who did not. And they are not just using her as an example of what they want more of – but of how well it went – giving the kids coming up through their program a chance to go from camper to leader. Yeah, I’m proud of her.

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