Friday, February 24, 2006
Friday Feb. 24, 2006 - Year 3, Day 340 - coffee & cake
-13C/9F, calm & overcast in Evergreen this morning; lots more snow for Gusta to romp in – if she only had a team & sled she’d be the lead dog for sure . .
my daughter Krista is on top of the world; in part settling in being back in Edmonton but mostly because she got that great permanent job posting she was after … congrats
many of you recall LR’s fight with leukemia, her relationship struggle & then mixing it up with [and marrying] her long time friend Mark [I was just the coach!!] & that they were expecting; I got a call from Lauren last night & an e-mail with pictures - Irvine has a new citizen congrats !!
timing is everything . . . or was it the green tea ?
in my work it happens all the time – the triple rule of location, location, location often trumped by timing; someone does not make a decision quickly enough, bringing together disparate parties & their issues/values/needs doesn’t quite fit smoothly – sometimes it requires artful compromise, sometimes it requires a ‘just do it anyway attitude’ because time is running out & fresh alternatives are not available; as often a ‘stop, start over, keep looking’ approach brings new opportunities out of hiding & sometimes a fresh re-look at things after a course of action is abandoned offers new perspective
as I mull some things, this work metaphor seems to be fitting for personal relationships too; in the past when ‘timing was lousy’ my style was to try to fix it somehow, negotiate, compromise etc., - rarely did I say ‘timing is lousy, keep looking’
obviously relationships between people is far more complex than a real estate transaction, more than nuances of timing, chemistry or lifestyle fits; to catch lighting in a bottle is not always something which results from artful execution of a plan – spontaneity plays a big role
on a slightly different note – or is it?
as a guest speaker I presented Toastmasters ideas to a group yesterday, not so much that they might start a club, but so they might use some ideas to improve their group dynamics & liven up their meetings; it is a group who gather for coffee every day – the membership evolved certainly over time, but the group has been meeting every day of the week at the Brentwood Co-op for 40 years; yes, that is not a typo!; they currently have 60 members – their business meeting included reports on minutes of the last meeting, treasurer’s report, who’s sick, who died & who had a birthday
I met with them for 45 minutes at their monthly coffee & birthday cake event; I got each of them to talk & introduce themselves to the group & explain what the group meant to them – we all learned some interesting tidbits; the youngest was 68 & the oldest was 93 [he & his wife of 65 years have been having coffee with this group continuously for 25 years]
mostly, they just wanted to be entertained & we shared lots of laughs; time they have lots of . . their choices/priorities are driven by things which are very clear; I got the hook when a 90 yr old fellow said ‘hey, my doctor won’t wait’ because he had to go to an appointment
suddenly, timing was everything
Mark
my daughter Krista is on top of the world; in part settling in being back in Edmonton but mostly because she got that great permanent job posting she was after … congrats
many of you recall LR’s fight with leukemia, her relationship struggle & then mixing it up with [and marrying] her long time friend Mark [I was just the coach!!] & that they were expecting; I got a call from Lauren last night & an e-mail with pictures - Irvine has a new citizen congrats !!
timing is everything . . . or was it the green tea ?
in my work it happens all the time – the triple rule of location, location, location often trumped by timing; someone does not make a decision quickly enough, bringing together disparate parties & their issues/values/needs doesn’t quite fit smoothly – sometimes it requires artful compromise, sometimes it requires a ‘just do it anyway attitude’ because time is running out & fresh alternatives are not available; as often a ‘stop, start over, keep looking’ approach brings new opportunities out of hiding & sometimes a fresh re-look at things after a course of action is abandoned offers new perspective
as I mull some things, this work metaphor seems to be fitting for personal relationships too; in the past when ‘timing was lousy’ my style was to try to fix it somehow, negotiate, compromise etc., - rarely did I say ‘timing is lousy, keep looking’
obviously relationships between people is far more complex than a real estate transaction, more than nuances of timing, chemistry or lifestyle fits; to catch lighting in a bottle is not always something which results from artful execution of a plan – spontaneity plays a big role
on a slightly different note – or is it?
as a guest speaker I presented Toastmasters ideas to a group yesterday, not so much that they might start a club, but so they might use some ideas to improve their group dynamics & liven up their meetings; it is a group who gather for coffee every day – the membership evolved certainly over time, but the group has been meeting every day of the week at the Brentwood Co-op for 40 years; yes, that is not a typo!; they currently have 60 members – their business meeting included reports on minutes of the last meeting, treasurer’s report, who’s sick, who died & who had a birthday
I met with them for 45 minutes at their monthly coffee & birthday cake event; I got each of them to talk & introduce themselves to the group & explain what the group meant to them – we all learned some interesting tidbits; the youngest was 68 & the oldest was 93 [he & his wife of 65 years have been having coffee with this group continuously for 25 years]
mostly, they just wanted to be entertained & we shared lots of laughs; time they have lots of . . their choices/priorities are driven by things which are very clear; I got the hook when a 90 yr old fellow said ‘hey, my doctor won’t wait’ because he had to go to an appointment
suddenly, timing was everything
Mark
342,632
