I came across the quote (from Stephen Covey) in the sub-title above the other day , and the words crossed my brain at the exact right time. Like all Summers, this one went by too fast…but this one also went by even faster than usual.
So when I put together Covey’s suggestion that we live life by a compass and not a clock with Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson’s reminder that time is a state of mind (it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!), I feel oriented to my life and I render the runaway passage of time almost immaterial.
I think of old business sayings like “I’d rather be roughly right than precisely wrong” and “directionally accurate” and I feel like the trajectory of my life is definitely roughly right, 100% directionally accurate. Rather than worry about life being on of off schedule, it’s so much more pleasant when I take stock of where I am in any single moment—and I’m almost always over-the-moon with things in that moment. When I take a higher-level view, I tend to worry about the uncontrollable, like time. But when I think about the compass, I get my bearings, realign my gaze…and inevitably other stuff comes into focus. The big picture is important, sure, but every last detail of it less so. Like a pointillist painting—is it a bunch of dots or is it something else? Depends on where you stand and where you look.
Anyway here are a few things happening that have me feeling pointed in the right direction right now:
My oldest nephew turned 25 yesterday, so Wednesday night we (my sis, bro-in-law, niece, birthday boy’s gf, my MI niece who goes to school in Boston, my mom, Kerri, and I), celebrated him. They grilled steaks, served more sides than you’d see on a Thanksgiving table, and my sis made her family-famous Boston Cream Pie. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, youthful energy is contagious…which came in handy because when we were looking at his baby album I felt particularly old AF. There was a pic of my youngest aunt holding him around the time he was born…and the realization that at the time she was 10 years younger than I am now was a real blow. But then I remembered “the compass and not the clock!” And I was happy again.
I feel good about all the attention the comma is getting on social media after Patrick Mahomes forgot a very important one in a recent tweet:
Proper punctuation (and grammar) (and spelling) can’t get enough attention if you ask me. (And was Mahomes’ misstep a Freudian typo that he got called on? 🤣)
While I don’t like to see anyone lose their job, Chaim Bloom’s very overdue shitcanning was welcome to this long-time Red Sox fan. After 4 years of watching him f-ck everything up, this move comes about 5 years too late. And how long will it take to untangle this mess of a roster? I know. Our minor league system is strong, but those things take time. They also don’t have to come at the expense of a contending team, and that’s where young Chaim went off the rails. It was like a revolving door there over on Lansdowne Street.
I’m also feeling good (no, make that great) (GREAT!) about what this Hyperchiller has done for my at-home iced-coffee game. Throw in the Nespresso and the Aeroccino and I’m a total java diva.
It’s Friday. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
Thanks to each and every one of you for being here right now, and extra thanks to those of you who came along for an extra ride on Monday, when I wrote this off-cycle post about 9/11, because I just had to. And based on how some of you responded, it’s a day you struggle with too. Glad we were able to share a moment over it.
Have a great weekend, all.
Love you too.