p.s.--Thank you for your post. Your (proverbial) pen is definitely God's instrument today.

This posts touches me right where I am currently. The glimpse began Friday afternoon and over the hours since has become a careful examination of that which currently looks like knots, frays, and tangles. But ... He's allowing me to flip the handiwork over every so often during this time, to see the glorious pattern He's creating, even if it's confusing and a little overwhelming when I'm in the midst of epic change.

Ha! :-) Thanks.

I had a similar experience with a goat. Seriously, I was eating appetizers at a Christmas Eve party, and I exclaimed that the meat was tasty--what was it? The hostess said, "It's Dinner." I replied, "I *know* it's dinner, but what is it?" She persisted, "It's Dinner." ... and then I recalled the little brown goat named dinner that had lived out in the back yard.

Yeah. Traumatic.

One of my favorite childhood memories stems from when my Mom's diamond became dislodged from her ring and went missing. Dad and I sorted through the junk in the canister for the house's central vacuum system for what seemed like FOREVER (probably 5 minutes if I was only 4 or so). Mom was teaching a smocking class upstairs when I ran triumphantly into the room with her diamond in my hand. Despite my interrupting her class, I can still remember all the smiles, including the feel of my own smile that moment. :)

I'm happy to hear there will be a book summarizing your visionary leadership concepts. I was just chatting about with friends on Monday night over dinner about your recent posts on leadership. The title "Shift" is concise, both culturally relevant and descriptive of the concept, and hard-hitting/memorable.

I've got a bit of a crush on social media. Seriously, I'm smitten. From the sidelines, I've been watching leaders and creative thinkers of all types flourish in their pursuits of reaching a target audience with an authentic voice. While I am living the dream God called me to 11 years ago, I sense Him pushing me toward using my creativity, publishing experience, and storytelling abilities to pursue this 'crush' further. I'm hoping Gary (coarse language and all) might inspire and help me fine-tune my direction with social media, even if it simply becomes venture I pursue in my spare time.

Doing some blog catch-up reading, saw Ali's comment, and feel like I'm in a similar place right now (just without 2 advanced degrees!) :-) Lindsey, is this Buckingham title the book or the video? Sounds like a great tool. (And, bonus, I like lists.)

Anyhow, what a great quote! Will write it on a post-it or on the fridge dry erase board.

YES. Authenticity. Such a great, great goal. I like how Lindsey put it, too--not just playing to an audience. I'm at once convicted and encouraged. Happy New Year.

I share your sentiment about airport hellos and goodbyes.

Well, I saw it in the way my friend's husband looked at his 4-month-old daughter yesterday morning. He's a super-masculine, fairly stoic guy ... but you can see his tenderness for his little girl just emanate from his every gesture or glance her direction. SO sweet.

p.s. You know, I think I'm going to try to watch that movie again. My mom walked in during a rather awkward/mortifying scene near the beginning, I believe, and I'm not sure I quite recovered from her flailing of arms and exclamations of, "WHAT are you watching!?"

Let me clarify, lest anyone think I survived a crash (not the case). I was flying out on the same airline at the same time of morning 3 weeks later when the medical incident I described happened.