The Merry Month of May

The month of May was life changing.

My feet have yet to touch the ground.

Speaking, signing, graduating, celebrating and merging. Where they all lead to, I have no idea. But in every single one of those moments, there were valuable lessons to be learned.

On May 16, I spoke at a Woman’s Conference. Delivering the keynote at this amazing event took hours and weeks of preparation. Preparing and redoing and revising my presentation, rehearsing my speech, memorizing every single word so that I could deliver them confidently and with impact. Whether or not (thank God it was a success) people enjoyed my 30 minutes of ranting, this experience taught me how to believe in myself, to be open and vulnerable by sharing my story with my co-workers, peers and leaders. There’s no turning back from this.

Finally, my writing life has reunited with my professional life.

And it feels so good.

On May 24, our youngest son graduated from high school. It feels so final. The day he would leave us for college has become a clear reality, and I’m still spending my days full of emotion and dread. I know I’m going to have to cross this bridge in two months, but I’m making the most out of our time together. I canceled all work trips in July. I intend to attach myself to his hip. I don’t care what we do  – whether it’s shopping or running errands or simply watching a movie together. I don’t want to waste time being away from him.

And from May 28 to 31, I capped my month off with a signing  at the NYC 2019 Book Expo. Meeting the most amazing co-authors from Vesuvian Media taught me that there are still kind, genuine and generous people in this industry. My peers, these authors – they were the complete opposite of everything I had experienced in the past. For the first time, I met people who were happy for my success. That’s so rare!

And as if that wasn’t enough, having our books displayed in the middle of Times Square was the ultimate honor and privilege.  I am forever indebted to my publisher for this once in a lifetime experience.

Here’s the thing, though. June is turning out to be just as fun. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!