This week is my 63rd birthday and I am celebrating relationships.
I was in DC yesterday presenting on Mentoring & Engagement for the partners at Sterne Kessler, doing work I love for a firm I feel deeply connected to.
While in DC, I got to celebrate with client-friends I’ve known for over 25 years. I have worked with each of them extensively on placements and trainings, and we’ve supported each other through major career and life changes. I keep saying this because it’s true: I love my work because I love my clients!
But the celebration doesn’t stop with my meaningful work relationships. This weekend, I’ve invited four friends I’ve known since grade school in the Bronx to my new home. We’ve been friends for 55 years!
I planned some exciting activities for us, including an art class, music in Asbury Park, pickleball, and delicious meals. But most of all, I am looking forward to recalling the fun (and sometimes silly) things we did growing up together in the 1970s and 1980s.
I can still remember the summer we were 14 and joined the Bronx version of a country club, Shorehaven. We took a yellow school bus to the other side of the Bronx with no air conditioning so we could play paddle ball against a concrete wall, swim in a saltwater pool, and smother ourselves in baby oil with iodine to tan.
I also remember the dark moments that bonded us. That was the summer of Son of Sam and the New York City blackout. I still remember hearing on our transistor radio that they had caught David Berkowitz, and we all sighed with relief.
As a teenager, I used to sit on my fire escape and imagine what my grown-up life would look like. I can honestly say that my life today has exceeded all my dreams.
If there is one thing 63 years has taught me, it’s that the quality of your life is deeply impacted by the quality of your relationships. Whether it’s a 55-year friendship or a 25-year client relationship, building trusted relationships and having people in your life to share challenges and celebrations with is what makes life good.
I am deeply grateful for the work I get to do each day and for all your trust and support!