COVID-19 reminds me of a steady rain-soaked wind dampening the spirits of so many around me. The chill lasts long after the heat is back on, with some painful lingering impacts. Although I am aware and feel bad for the afflicted, yet, for some reason, I wake grateful every day and am excited to get about working. I haven't been this happy working in over a decade.

There are two reasons for this. Okay, three. First, COVID-19 restrictions for small businesses were like a throwdown for me. I lean into risk. I trust my gut and enjoy burrowing into something to follow the scent, believing in the potential. Fortunately, my psycho-twin is humility, and I steep myself in learning from others who hold the wisdom, experience, and knowledge I lack. The key for me is knowing enough to admit what I don't know.

I relish in the learning, so really, it is just an invitation to explore. I leaned in and became an owner and CEO of a business that supports small businesses' growth. These same businesses are run by entrepreneurs like me and have mortgages to pay, clients to meet, ideas to develop.

The second reason is timing.

I have been a home-based professional parent since I moved back to the states in 2009. It has been lonely professionally. With small contracts here and there, I focused most of my time and energy on my growing sons' needs, all three of whom had their mountains to climb, invisible to many but for whom general education was exceedingly difficult. Each son, at some point, became depressed, and his daily activities that much more challenging. Depression is like a weighted cloak more effective at causing the person to lie in a heap vs. stand, never mind move.

Sophocles said, “Nothing is gained without hardship.” Over the years, at different touchpoints, my sons received a diagnosis or label to garner additional support and clues for alternative ways to learn and live. I spent 27 years doing the best I could, helping each son do his personal best. I felt pride in achieving a C level parenting. Many days I thought I earned a D, and there have been those gut-wrenching times with my knees in the puddle of my tears, where abject failure is the only rippled reflection I see. Today, my sons are safe, trying to figure out their education and adult lives, and don't need me at home. Woohoo!

This independence timed well with my new business venture. The job was new, the part unwritten with a rough outline. I sketched notes on the side of the page: find people like me, where people laugh, where people think to ask about the family at home or afar and listen, remember, curious problem finders and solution builders, generous in spirit and wise in spending, where people imagine what they want and set about to build a life around it.

That last notation is a lodestar for me. I am happy to say the universe seems to be feeding me as I have met remarkable, creative, intelligent, and talented entrepreneurs wanting to work together. And so, I return to Sophocles, who nailed it for me; he wrote, “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: Love.”

For me, this returns to the people in my community who have been there for me, with me. My neighbors, my friends from Mercer Island, Redmond, Hawaii Kai, Baltimore, Chatham, Beijing, and Natick, my business colleagues, and volunteer wing women all help me as I would them. Although love is a strong word, I must admit it is more accessible to me for those who share it with me through deeds, time, and supportive thoughts.

This month I had to give something called a “classification talk” for the local Rotary Club.

It was how you introduce yourself, and for me, I realized I have so many blessings. I am attaching it here. I have many friends and family not pictured in the photos, really only because I made this up in a couple of hours using photos I had handy. There are many, many dear friends and family whom are in my heart and mind daily even if I don’t get to see frequently.