a business trip

I sat around a pool last night with some coworkers rehearsing slides for a pitch
(We were in Florida meeting with a prospective client
trying to win their business- their very significant piece of business.)

We brainstormed and gave each-other feedback.
Figuring out how to make the message clearer, more compelling.
(Isn’t it funny how saying something simply can often be so hard?)

We sat under that umbrella for hours

until all of our laptops ran out of power.

We drank beer out of paper coffee cups from the Miller Light Kegerator that the Hampton Inn rolled out for their complimentary happy hour (5-7 daily)
and discussed our value proposition.

This whole exchange reminded me of my years as a consultant,
That time in my early 20’s where I spent Monday-Fridays on the road, always preparing for high-pressure client meetings.

But there was one marked difference between now and (way back) then: 
I no longer feel like a kid mascarading as a “business person”

I now have some skills and some experiences and the word “Senior” before my title
I now generally know what I’m talking about
and when I don’t, I am not intimidated to say so.

When did that happen?

I have been in the work force for 9 years
Which, if you think about it, is longer than I spent in High School & College combined
(longer than I spent on the dating scene or sang in any choir or believed in Santa Clause, for that matter)

That is sort of a long time. 
Not a very long time but not a very short time either.

I have been having these moments with increasing regularity over the past year or so…Moments of elucidation where I realize I am, in fact,
Grown Up.

I am an employee who gets to present slides in important meetings
I am a wife. A mother. A person with health insurance and a 401K and maybe enough left over to take a vacation every now and then.  A woman who’s smile is reinforced by the lines on my face.
I am an adult.  (how about that.)

No real point in any of this other than to say: It all moves so fast, doesn’t it?

#Progress