Today is my forty-fourth birthday, and a grand one it has been!

Did anyone bake me a cake? Nope.

Did anyone throw me a party? Nope.

Did I get any presents to open? Nope.

Did anyone cook me dinner or take me out? Nope.

So, you might be wondering, with all this ‘missing’ birthday stuff, how come today was so grand?

The day started off with flashing clocks (power outage sometime in the wee hours) and lurching awake with the phone ringing (Baby Sis in her car in front of the house trying to pick up PDD for the first day of Bible school.) It was 8:20, PDD was sawing logs and I had 30 minutes to get her up, dressed and transported across town and then 10 minutes to get back home for my first appointment of the day. AAACCCKKK! I sent Baby Sis on, and yanked PDD into her clothes, grabbed the cell phone and scurried her to the car. Through pouring rain and a driver’s-side windshield wiper on strike, we took off for the church.

We made it just in time, and I did my first appointment via cell phone on the drive back. That appointment is where the day made it’s U-turn.

Some people don’t quite understand my coaching practice – they’re not sure what exactly coaching is all about, unless you’re talking about sports. Their eyebrows knit even more tightly together when I talk about my coach. You’re a coach and you have a coach??!! Uhhh…why?

Well, my mom would tell you that I am someone who has to have the answer to my question figured out before I’m willing to even ask the question. But you know what? That’s a hard way to live. And I’m not willing to do it anymore. I have a coach for the same reasons people hire me to be their coach: to have someone whose investment in me and my life is not clouded by any emotional attachment to who they need me to be or any self-serving hidden agenda. I have someone in my corner focused on me and what I want. I have help sorting out fact from fiction and unconditional support as I discover and create the life I really want to live.

And THAT is exactly what is happening in my life today.

I have new clients in both of my businesses who value me and the difference I am making in their lives. Some of those new clients are becoming trusted and valued friends, people I feel blessed to have joined me on my path. Nancy sent me the nicest surprise via an e-card today, and Andrea and I worked out a mutually beneficial trade of skills and talents, knowing that each of us ‘has the other’s back’ and are truly making a real and tangible difference in each other’s lives. Christa and I have so much in common, it’s no surprise our paths crossed, and while yes, I am building her website, I feel honored to help her bring her contribution to the world because what she’s doing will resonate with and make a difference for so many people.

And all of this is happening because I’m giving myself permission to be ‘me’. I am saying ‘no’ to what doesn’t fit for me any longer, no matter who thinks what, and I am saying ‘yes’ to the possibilities that consistently pop up in front of me.

Happy FANTASTIC Birthday to me!