As I sit on a plane headed to do some mom jobs my heart is FULL. I was reminded from the second my feet hit the brown mud... that even in "mud season" my heart is in Vermont. The women in our community are like bouquets of the most amazing sunflowers. When I sat down to write this I was going to write the story of what I did this week, but I realized I was afraid I might leave someone out.....because truly there were lovely moments everywhere I went as I interacted with all of you.
How much do I love you....let me count the ways.
1. I love the things we talked about. I love that at a dinner with some girlfriends we each spoke about our favorite outfit from when we were children and why. (Some of the answers were very endearing!) As adult women we don't ever compare our current clothes, shoes, purses, or cars. Ever. I can guarantee I didn't noticed any of your clothes, shoes, purses, or cars when I saw you this week. Okay....I did notice that Beth wore gorgeous bright cheerful colors and Paula smells absolutely divine. What I did notice is your smiles, and your raucous laughter. I noticed the tone in your voice when you spoke about your loved ones. I noticed how much you love and admire and respect each other. I notice that not only are you trying to be your best selves, you are lifting the other women in the community with you.
2. I love that although we don't talk about silly material things....everyone loves some great lingerie. For a bunch of women who run around town in ski clothes or jeans and mud boots....we love our Joy and the amazing lingerie store she opened in town. Thanks to Joy, lingerie drawers all over the community are a hell of a lot more fabulous than they used to be. (Check out Joy - All Things, Under Things if you are ever in Manchester, VT.) They are the bomb!
3. I love that the Eileen Fisher company and all of it's employees rallied behind Sarah Hadden and the www.Kuraproject.org . Women in Southern Vermont are working constantly raising money to support school girls in Northern Kenya by supplying menstrual supplies and school fees. They have made a great impact but there is SO much work to be done. How fantastic is it that Eileen Fisher threw an event to raise money and the whole community came out and shopped all day. I loved that I kept turning around and seeing one beautiful woman after another from our community beaming as they supported KURA. Thank you Sarah Hadden for creating this amazing origination and letting us all help.
You are each special and unique. You celebrate each other's successes. You are kind and compassionate and fun as all hell.
Be back very soon!