Who Knew

It sounds so easy, and is something we typically do so freely. Closing our eyes. We do it when we need to rest. Or quickly to blink. Or in moments when we may be fighting back tears. Maybe it's in frustration and you're counting to 10 simultaneously. When you're wrapped in a warm embrace of someone you love. Stopping yourself from seeing something you don't want to see. There are so many reasons we close our eyes. During my time in higher education, so often we used activities that called on our students to close their eyes. And in those moments I either opted into facilitating the activity so I could keep my eyes open, or participated with my eyes closed, feeling nervous, tense and uncomfortable the entire time. If there was a way I could participate and keep my eyes open, I did.  I have always been so uneasy to close my eyes in moments like this in a public space. Until last week. I was at a coworkers house for our December lulu staff meeting. And we talked ...

That's the old adage, right? Pictures (aka evidence) or you didn't do it, right? Just like it's not real unless it's FBO (good old Facebook official). Funny how we need the digital evidence to prove what we've done in real time. It's hard to believe that a month ago I was packing my bags for a 10-day adventure across the country. It feels like it was just yesterday, but forever ago at the same time.  Portland, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Cincinnati and Raleigh.  But it was so much more than that.  It was laughing with friends and family that we don't see often enough. It was seeing that only half of Oregon is the tree-lined lush state. It was making up stories of rock monsters and talking to all the different species of animals in the fields along the road. It was eating gas station food, taking a gamble with the Mexican restaurant near the hotel and 'modern' rest stops. It was karaoke, wine, beer and stepping foot in states we'd never been in (whic...