Sequence Development

The farther removed from April 30, 2016 we become, the more Laurie Bereza’s bucket list sits atop my head.

It is a manifesto we should all live by. It is counter cultural to the poisonous narrative that has taken control of society. In a post Covid world, these are the 5 things you need to thrive.

Am I all of these things? Ha!! I’m the poster boy for how not to be this. So are you. Because we are all human, here for just a bit, transgressors, blindly making our way through the storm. It’s beautiful isn’t it?

And while I do often miss the mark, I also see so clearly that when I’m leaning into these 5 simple things, I’m the closest to my best self I can be.

My favorite part as the years pass is the insistence that even if you smile every day, two steps later you must also be happy. A stark reminder.

And then finally… my true guiding principle… number 100- love and cherish life.

I’ve contemplated the “space between” she left. Purposeful? Unintentional? A mind meld?

What does it mean? Maybe nothing. But then again.

I miss my sister. For 8 years now she’s been gone. I’m sorry if you didn’t know her, totally your loss. I’m sorry if you did know her, you have that emptiness I have.

3
2
1
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Go.

It’s one of my favorite days of the year. One of the few days on the calendar that intentionally tells you… get going.

It was an easy winter, we all know it. Unless you like winter, then it was probably lackluster.

But for the rest of us, the light strugglers, the ones bamboozled annually by the Great Grey, the arrival of spring genuinely carries a rebirth of energy. Of hope.

When I look through my past, this date continually acts as my ‘shot out of the cannon’ moment. Good things, nay, great things happen around this time.

I can be easily persuaded. Most people know this. All takes is a trick of the calendar, and I’m raring to go.

So here we are… 3/21.

Whatever shall we do with it? I can answer for me, and then send out a bat signal for all those ready to escape the doldrums. Ready to execute a version of life maybe you’ve only dreamt of. Dreamed of? I never know.

Last year I promised a circus. This year- life in better order- it’s coming. This is an early call to action that if you’ve got a crazy idea…. This feels like the year to chase it. To survive the coming spectacle (you know) we will need grace, creativity, imagination, guts, and a few other choice words.

I’m ready for something wild.

Stay tuned…

📸: Erika Groff