10/23/2025
It all comes back to the Breakfast Club
I have often puzzled over and written about the tendency for adults to be dismissive of teens and young adults. It seems we talk about around and above them, but rarely do we take the time to speak with or listen to them. I have felt this acutely during high school, college and even in the intervening years as I struggled to ease into adulthood. I am often reminded of this time period, as adolescents and young adults are so keenly introspective at this point in their lives. Now, years past that age, I find myself still standing in solidarity with a younger generation since I still can relate to their pain at the lack of being seen, or reduced to a stereotype instead of being regarded as a whole and complete person. Or, as stated so eloquently in the Breakfast Club, seen only “as you want to see us. In the most convenient terms, and the simplest definitions. We're all a brain, an athlete, a mouse, a princess, and a criminal.” But that is so reductive, since we are all humans, complex and unique, craving to be seen and acknowledged as our whole and wonderful selves.
Write just a little each Day
This morning I was thinking of Doug, and even talked about him with Billy. Talked about my kidney donation in May 2025. Imagine my surprise when later this same day, I got a call from Baylor Scott & White about scheduling my 6 months appointment. And a lot comes washing back, My initial trip to Texas to get evaluated to be a kidney donor, and the unbelievable day when I received a call telling me that the board had approved me for kidney donation at the ripe old age of 51. My amazement turned to logistics and figuring out how we could do this, as a family, for family. With two active kiddos, the end of the school year and for my eldest, the end to elementary school. It seemed capricious at best. But, I truly feel that I was called to donate. In truth, I have done blood tests and filled out paperwork for donation in the past. I am a firm believer in the power of giving, and in this case, I was grateful to be giving my kidney to a family member, My husband’s cousin, Doug Witt.
Teams
Perhaps this is what I am looking for and have been looking for all along, my team. I think that I felt quite far removed from any way to find friends, or figure out a way to come out of hiding. Or, perhaps, to figure this all out, the root cause–hiding. Being afraid to trust or rely on anyone, being a loner, going it alone. When, what you were looking for was the chance to be all one, but you took it so personally when it wasn’t the right fit, that you cut yourself off from other opportunities. You were stuck in a cycle of too much or not enough. But it wasn’t logical, it was emotional– emoted, or portrayed. And truly, there is abundance for all. We are all one.
Synchronicity
Breathe if you need to wonder/wander. How neat is a singular word that can raise confusion, compromise, new thoughts, and quite possibly the having of beautiful ideas. I love ideas and shaping them and love thinking about how small shifts in our perspectives can have such an incredible impact on how we see ourselves and the lives we lead. I have been thinking of this in a zoom in/zoom out way akin to drone photography vs the interior of the house. Sometimes, when you are just experiencing an emerging idea, you can feel like it is all scattered. Today, I used the word amorphous in our conference call, and came up with an image that is more along the lines of the scientific definition of amorphous substances and I thought of slime or clay. The idea is connected and solid, not fragmented, but as it is molded and shaped; some parts that are weaker can be bolstered, anything too clumsy can be refined. And that is how an idea takes shape. It is like being given, or receiving a really big ball of clay. What a gift! But, how to use it? That is a whole separate adventure as you learn to manage your gifts, shape them, build, reshape and rebuild. Or, even break and rebuild, as is sometimes necessary. Just like rebirth.
