August

 This month has a lot of people living on both ends of the emotional spectrum. We had the 2024 Olympics in Paris, parents sending their kids off to college suffering an ache they didn't expect for a landmark, birthdays, and funerals. My friends and colleagues were crying after coming home without their kids. My heart does ache for them because your child was your first unconditional love. After 18 years, it's still hard to cut the cord.
Earlier this month, I took my dad to his friend's funeral. Each time we go, he tells me how he would like his own funeral to play out. He wants it happy, like a reunion. My dad loves gathering and reminiscing.  He tries to attend all the reunions, even the ones in France. At his age,  life is good at a slower pace. He is thankful for his mobility and the mundane routines, as long as he has another day to wake up to.
August is also a complete circle around the sun for yours truly. I am my father's daughter because I try to enjoy what life I have left. No one knows when their time is up. A few of my colleagues retired early to live out their dreams. I'm still living my dream. Even with all the crazies, I am thankful for my job. Two decades ago, I thought I would hang it up by now. But I still enjoy being able to solve complex cases, changing smiles, building confidence, getting to know more people, hearing different perspectives, talking to patients, and I love my team. We're family. I can forego the difficult people part though. Life has its ups and downs, things happen because it's an opportunity to grow somehow and sometimes it just sucks. But as I age, I'm more fluid with each situation. It used to be black and white. Now, there are shades of gray because I understand sometimes one has to compromise. It doesn't mean one compromises all the time, just that specific situation. But I, too, have my limit on seeing the other side of the story. Going back and forth, wasting time is not my forte. My team knows this well about me. We focus on the main point. The fluff is for cakes and desserts. 
As I celebrate with most of my friends and family members, I am grateful to those who always seem to be there, even at 2am, doing the hard work to ensure my success and happiness. Here's to celebrating team work with desserts from Alexander's Steakhouse.
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