I look around my luxury home office (aka my messy paper covered nook in the kitchen that drives my husband crazy) with Christmas cards in a pile on one side of my desk and Christmas music blaring from my speaker on the other side and I see a full year has gone by again. My children are now three and a half, already talking about turning four in April. I am just trying to get my bearings on the task at hand my latest blog post, as my daughter swoops in, “look at me dance” as she prances around the kitchen to the tune of Bing Crosby crooning White Christmas, and my son zips by, “look at me – I am a race car” on his tricycle, just missing his twirling twin sister. My office is pure bliss (chaos – disguised with smiles and finger smudges, work papers and drawings). All the while somehow quite productive, oddly enough, due to my father’s apparently genetic work ethic – I am the modern whatever you want to call me. Clearly, this doesn’t work for most people and honestly it doesn’t work for me some days when a deadline is looming and the kids have a fever – but today, well today, I feel like I am doing it just fine.
I am lucky in my life for so many reasons: the aforementioned children obviously, a husband that works hard, loves and respects me amidst my chaos, but I also have a job that allows me to work mostly from home in my chaotic little nook, taking phone calls at nap-time or on school days, designing marketing materials and websites at wee hours of the night, and the occasional conference that takes me away from home (which in all truthfulness, is a good thing). I work on projects that challenge me, teach me, and humble me. This year I worked on a compelling campaign addressing the staggering statistics behind “Towards Zero Deaths” and the economy and lives behind rural transportation systems for the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America held in Denver, CO. I also learned all about Montana’s manufacturing market while working on MMEC’s biennial Compete Smart Conference held at Fairmont Hot Springs this year. And just yesterday, I finished a website for the Merida Foundation, a non-profit organization, based out of Missouri. Merida’s mission is to support the descendants of the Mayan people in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, who often live on only $2.00 per day and are so thankful to receive a free pair of used eye glasses and nutritious food for their children’s bellies (which clearly gives me a much needed perspective during this often overly commercial season).
So with the holiday season right here in our grasp, I hope you look around like I am doing and remember what brought you to this moment whether in business or in life. Remember the people you encountered and embraced full-throttle, the challenges you conquered (or didn’t – lessons learned). Take note of who you can help and who is helping (while working at a conference this fall a dear friend of mine became quite ill and Traci – my boss – prepared meals for his family while I was away on a trip). These are the things that make life “right” and keep pushing me to do better, be better, and love more. These are things that I want to teach my children, to see they are lucky for all they have (good and bad) because these moments bring you here and for me, “HERE” in this moment while I watch my children twirl and race as I feverishly try and write this – is pretty darn “right” if you ask me.
Okay, I have to catch my daughter in mid-twirl and wrestle my son off his trike to get them presentable for their Christmas Sing-a-long at preschool! Fa la la la la laaaa la la.
Merry Christmas from mine to yours.
Kasey Wright
About the author:
Kasey B. Wright is a small town, small business kind of girl with nature in her heart. She grew-up working long hours at her parents general store in amazing Joseph, Oregon – Google it, oh wait, here’s a link – visit! Really- Arts, Camping, Resort on Wallowa Lake, Mountains, 52 high lakes, Gorgeous! Enough with the free advertisement, but truly it is amazing – Google it! Now days, if not twiddling away on her iMac, painting, or mentally re-designing pretty much everything, she is outside with her family enjoying all of the adventures that lay beyond her front door (which in Missoula are abundant and basically start within a five-minute radius of her house). Her family, a husband of whom she met as a freshman in college (architect – I know two designers and yes, nothing ever gets done), our dog (neurotic first child wire-haired pointing griffon), cat (shelter cat – maybe the most adjusted member of our family), and 3-year-old twins (girl+boy) in chronological order, keep the adventure alive!
