The grieving process is not an easy subject matter to tackle. What’s good for one isn’t necessarily good for another. With the recent passing of my precious Dad, my Mom had been anxious to clean out his things in order for her healing process to begin.

Recently, I came back from an extended business trip that was half way around the world, where the time difference was fourteen hours. Once I returned home, I anticipated a few days of being jet lagged, not only from the time difference but the long airline flight as well.

Do you have challenges in your life that you know you should face, but scare the crap out of you? That happened to me last week. This year I’m hosting a series of workshops with three other coaches and while I was away on business, my three other colleagues were hosting weekly book club videos. They were tag teaming and always co-hosted together.

I thought I made an impact on most of them, well, that’s what I was hoping for. The night before I traveled home my team panicked when I started saying my good-byes. They thought I was staying one more day. I was only there a few hours that evening since I had to finish packing before my early morning flight.

Since we were only in Hong Kong for forty-eight hours, my friend and I decided eating dim sum was a must, but since our first evening had been occupied by the laser light show and getting to and from the heart of the city, we would have to somehow fit dim sum in on day two.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong. Once the plane landed, there was shy of forty-eight hours before the return flight. My friend and I had a lot of ground to cover, since I was confident I wouldn’t be returning any time soon, and wanted to make the most of the stay.

Since I’m working the overnight shift, it was February 13th when I brought the chocolates to the office. The hotel is close enough of a walk to and from the office each day, and this particular night the streets were mayhem. Traffic was crazy and almost got hit by a van while crossing the street. My colleague and I were perplexed at the amount of cars and people in the city, on what we thought was a random Tuesday night.

I’ve loved football since I was a little girl and would watch the games together with my Dad. This past weekend happened to be the Super Bowl, which is something I never miss. Even if I’m invited to a party, I’m usually the girl that’s focused on every play of the game while hootin’ and a hollerin’ at the TV. When I realized I was going to be out of the country for this year’s event, I assumed I wouldn’t have any trouble finding a place to watch the game.

Recently, while traveling for business half way around the world to another land and culture, I wanted to trust things would go smoothly. However, when they didn’t, I tried not to panic. I traveled to Manila, Philippines last fall so I felt comfortable to return. I knew the area well, was staying at the same hotel and felt confident using the currency. Last fall, the hotel was able to exchange my US dollars for Philippine pesos and planned to do the same this time around.

We always knew one day we would come together as a group. We didn’t know how it would look, we just knew in our hearts it would happen. Last November we got together for dinner and a quick check-in of what was going on since we saw each other last. What happened next was four women talking non-stop, trying to fit everything in….LOL. So many ideas were flying around the table and somehow, before we left, had a plan to kick off the new year with an Own Your ’18 workshop.

Someone stopped me at work today and mentioned they heard your name on the radio over the weekend. The radio host seemed to know you well and talked about all the great stories you told. He had mentioned he was at your service so I must have met him, even though I can’t remember in this moment; I think she mentioned his name was Wayne. Oh, how I wish I heard that broadcast.

Last week, a friend had mentioned an upcoming class she would be taking on crystals in the area and I immediately looked into signing up. After reading about the contents and outcomes, I signed up as well. The name alone intrigued me, Crystal Grid. It was about setting intentions for the New Year.

This past weekend I spent in the city celebrating with four of my girlfriends. We had plans that kept us busy doing one thing or another. The weather was unseasonably cold, which made it a bit difficult to move about the city with ease.

Earlier in the week my family was discussing his service, and one by one announced they weren’t able to speak. I knew, I was the one that would speak on behalf of the family. Both my brothers and sister didn’t think I would be able to pull it off without breaking down. It was a challenge I needed to master….for him.

As old and new friends gathered together, the Jingle Babes, as we named our group, headed out by trolley into the brightly lit city sky. People were gathered all around and everyone was in the Christmas spirit. We spent the next four hours exploring the city in all its colorful splendor.

We also broke tradition with the family dinner prayer. When I arrived at my parent’s home, my Dad asked if I would say grace this Thanksgiving. I had no response other than “of course I will”, but what my Dad didn’t suspect, I was a bit nervous to have that responsibility. Whenever he says grace it’s filled with tenderness for any heartbreak or situation that needs additional prayer of healing or thanksgiving, and he always ends his prayer uplifting those that are less fortunate. That is one tradition that has never been broken.

Earlier in October, my friend reached out to me to see if I would be interested in seeing a Food Network personality we both follow. The evening would be complete with a book signing and then a couple hours of listening to her story and answering questions. Even though it was almost ninety minutes away and on a weeknight, I was excited to go.

Hundreds of people came together to honor a beautiful soul; which included overflow seating in another area of the considerable sized church. What I witnessed at the celebration of his life, touched my heart to it’s core.