Gratitude Monday: Still getting up

One more shoutout for a friend’s support in my recent, successful-beyond-all-hopes job search. Danger Girl was the statistics-and-analytics person in our business unit at the big software company in Seattle. I learned a lot from her and enjoyed her unique sense of humor. Two distinct characteristics: her strawberry blonde hair and her passion for Disney parks. If I ever wanted advice on any Magic Kingdom on any continent, I’d go to her for the straight scoop.

After I moved to the Valley They Call Silicon, we kept in touch mainly through social media. A few years ago she spied my post on fairy wings at IKEA wherein I decried the lack of colors like mauve. The next thing I knew, I received a pair of hand-painted mauve fairy wings:

(In retrospect, they look a bit like butterfly wings, which is certainly appropriate to the metamorphosis in my life.)

They’ve been the first piece of décor I’ve put out each time I’ve moved since then, and I always get a kick out of reliving the story as I pin them up on the wall.

When I needed a reference from the big software company for my last job, I called on Danger Girl, and she did a bang-up job. So when I was lining my ducks in a row this time, I reached out to ask her if she’d reprise, and indeed she would. But during that conversation, she said something that was a major part of my stars aligning:

In the course of telling her about #playingtowin, I cracked, “Kind of late to be learning this…” and she snapped right back: “It’s not too late if you can still get up.”

Boom.

That was a super-powerful insight, and I’ve been carrying it with me. I coach a friend of a certain age who’s been looking for a job for many months. On last week’s call I brought that up, and it was just as powerful for him. Danger Girl’s wisdom has become part of my legacy, and I’m grateful for her being my support.

Also: mauve fairy wings.