enough time for the important things.

Perfectly natural is it to go through ups and downs in moods, ambition, self-assurance, etc. I was having one of those "down" days the other day - you know, the kind where you just feel like things might be slowly and subtly falling apart and that there's no time to do everything you want or you aren't in the place you thought you'd be in by now. And then, if you're like me, this downer mood just makes you find fault in everything else in your life too so that by the end of the day, you're exhausted, stressed out, and bitter.

The other day I was feeling frustrated about not making enough money for New York and then got even more frustrated when I got into an argument with my father. To make it worse, my mother was stressing out about having enough time to plan for her tour the next day when she realized she had to create a whole new route and then study for it. For those of you who don't know, she recently became a San Francisco Tour Guide, but, like being a teacher, it takes a while to really get into the groove and each tour she does involves hours of preparation and studying. She was up late and had only a few hours before she had to get up the next morning. On top of my own anxieties, I was feeling anxious for her as well.

The next day, her tour ended at the de Young Museum but her car was all the way at the Larkspur Ferry terminal, so instead of making her find a cab or a bus and then taking the ferry back into Marin, I just came in and picked her up. It was a particularly STUNNING day in the city with magnificent views and crisp, clear skies and a general happiness among all the people. Sure enough, when I pulled up to the curb to pick up my mother, she hopped in, all smiles, and proceeded to tell me what a wonderful day she had. The tour had gone well and the whole crew (a group of elderly citizens from rural Idaho) had excessively complimented her at the end. The tour director even went so far to say that in her 30+ years as a tour director, my mother was the best tour guide she had ever met.

As we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to head back into Marin, my mother got a phone call from John. I was admiring the excitement on the bridge: stoked tourists, lots of finger-pointing from cars, a glimmering city sitting gloriously on the hill behind us. I was starting to feel silly about how dramatically upset I had been the day before when, on cue, I overheard my mother say to John, "You have no idea how happy I am and how much I love doing this. I just feel so great that I made the right decision." I almost laughed out loud about the timing and perfection of my mother saying this and immediately, I knew I needed to write about it.

What quote to provide here? There are way too many. There's the one that I used constantly among my friends in high school: "Everything is OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end."

There's the one my dad always threw at me whenever I was stressed out about things like mean girls in middle school or not having a prom date in high school: "The cream always rises to the top."

And then there's the one I magically stumbled upon this morning in an email from the company of one of my favorite artists, Brian Andreas: "Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life."

Bottom line: life is tough and some days are worse than others and sometimes, when it rains, it pours. But think about all that you DO have, and how much you can keep doing, and that life is never over until it's over. There's always time to change your mind, your outlook, and your actions. And the more positive attitude you have about the things that don't particularly appeal to you, the better things will turn out for you in the end.

Cheers.