I was thinking, in the two seconds between the last post and this one, about the awesome young females I know and surround myself with.
Guy friends and people that are all-grown-up, you're awesome too, just not the point of this post!
Sometimes I think back to middle school, where my core group of friends and myself deemed our group the 'Mag 7'. Cheesy as all hell? Yes. Fortunately, the Mag part became so true... Steph is up in the John Hancock Tower, dealing with these crazy big-name clients and their online marketing, being badass, about to get married to someone great. Casey is in the Hancock too (above? below? who knows), with all this important official CPA stuff going down. Ariane is at Harvard Div School being an incredible power lady, getting her Masters in something she LOVES and is passionate about and not having to pay for it because she is that cool. Kelsey is in Peru, doing medical studies, helping people, and exploring the world. So great!
I'm lucky to have continued to find awesome ladies in my life too. While I knew Merli in college, I never imagined we would be spending so much of our lives together so intensely!!! I am inspired by how she can go to work for hours, blast out for class/rehearsal, and still take on freelance design projects and websites... All of this on top of the hours and hours of creative and not-creative Luminarium work we do.
My little sister is completely inspiring as well. To be a female trumpet player is hard enough, but she is an amazing composer too. I was lucky to get to take in her senior recital Tuesday night, most of the material her original compositions, and they were astonishing. They weren't just beautiful tunes, there were complex themes and inspirations perfectly woven in, a middle-eastern influence seamlessly deposited into the jazz. Incredible. We've joked for years with our mom about how someday (that day being now) I was going to be a choreographer (back up plan, doctor) and my sister would be a musician (back up plan, lawyer). Nice to have been provided with so much freedom!
Where am I going with this poorly written entry...
Well, any quick glance through a day's worth of status updates from Facebook friends will show how many of your past acquaintances are either complete waste-products, unhappy in their jobs or lives, full of negative energy, or just going nowhere fast. [That was awful, I know..] I am honored to surround myself with people that are successful, motivated, and have awesome pathways and careers ahead of them. It keeps me on my toes, and inspires me.
So proud of all of you and the generations behind you in your respective careers who cut the road. This made me cry for many reasons - happiness, past toils of countless other women, the beauty of lives well lived following a path that they know is true for them, remembering all those little girls and doing my best to navigate all through the years where girls lose their individual voice and get sucked into the culture of oppression, and the music...seeing that performance really brought it home. Thank you for writing this, you nailed it! Years ago, I realized that the countless interests I had were not ready to be supported to the level I would want to achieve and that the best accomplishment I could have would be to be a bridge to the future and work every day to facilitate an environment ensuring that dreams be realized.
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