love thursday: reconnecting & the gift of time

A gift from my good friend's kids to Alex.  I love the brightly coloured hearts.

As coincidence would have it, today is exactly 3 months since my last day at my corporate law job.  In some ways, I'm very pleased with what I've accomplished in my first 90 days on my own; in others, I wish that I had achieved more by this point. 

Also, by coincidence, this week I've been reconnecting with a lot of friends from my past life: coworkers who are now friends, and even outside counsel with whom I worked really closely when I was still practicing law.  Without exception, our meetings have been so enjoyable -- and they've all been so encouraging.  "You're lucky," they've said.  "You're following your dream.  There are so few people who are able to do that."

They're right: I am lucky.  But not because I'm following my dream (because really and truly, when I quit my job, I felt I had no choice but to follow the relentless voice inside of me), but because I have people in my life like them, who selflessly (and usually without a second thought) give me the gift of their time and their encouragement.  These particular friends were all so very, very busy, sandwiching me between business trips and deadlines, and yet, they still reached out to me, made the effort to contact me and made the time to listen to me and to encourage me.  And for this, I'm very, very grateful.

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Happy Love Thursday, everyone.  Please leave the links to your images and stories of love in the comments section below.

And may someone give you the gift of her time and encouragement today.

Song:  With a little help from my friends, as performed by Sara Bareilles