Celebrate Me, Celebrate You

If any of you follow Priscilla on twitter, you probably saw her pic of a few of us girls yesterday.  We had an office "meeting" at a fun restaurant in Dallas...a VERY rare occasion for us.  It's rare because we're always in different places with all the travelling everyone does....and if we're not travelling, we're working on our eternal to-do lists at the office.  There's always something that's gotta be done!  

But when our team "let's our hair down" and shares a meal, we do it as we do everything in life:  with passion.  AND with laughter; TONS of laughter.  

We would imitate the way Katie wraps & packages the resources (perfectly I might add...but she uses $35 worth of wrapping paper for a $15 BOOK!),

OR Linnae eating habits & meticulous organization habits (mostly vegan, please, don't cry!),

OR my crazy style preferences & off-the-wall ideas (I think they're perfectly NORMAL!)

OR Priscilla's summer schedule (I mean, she juggles 3 kids who are currently out of school and at home, a husband, study, travel and even gets in some time for her friends...we're convinced she hides her superwoman cape under that size 4 pair of jeans!), 

and of course, Jerry's having to be in an office with all girls.  QUITE the entertainment for a guy who's clearly a "man's man."

And through the whole glorious meal, there was laughter.  We just plain LIKE each other.  And more than that, we can see all of each other's flaws...I mean, we office and travel together.  You know each other's habits, what kind of tea we drink, when someone has reached the point of exhaustion and when NOT to pick on someone because they're just having a bad day.  We KNOW each other.   We LOVE each other.

And occasionally it takes a meal to get us back to this place.  

Priscilla talked about "seeing" your special someone earlier this week.  I wanted to echo that...and add a bit.  We all "saw" each other today, but we were also all fully present.  No one took out an iPhone or checked an email.  Other than the occasional glance at the Olympics score on the restaurant television there was no distraction from the table.  We were loving being a part of relationship with each other.  In fact, we were SUPPOSED to have a meeting while there, but we forgot all about it in our enjoyment of each other.

Don't get me wrong, I drive our team CRAZY sometimes.  I am the creative one that comes up with ideas that no one can track with sometimes.  They look at me like I've got antennaes because I can't explain something well.  But today, instead of bemoaning my odd side, my team celebrated it.  Instead of seeing the frustrating and head-shaking-eye-rolling oddness of me, my team just laughed as if to say, "that's what makes Annetta, Annetta."  And we all walked away just glad to be a part of this team.

Would you celebrate the good AND the seemingly bad about the people in your life today?  Who knows, it may give you a good laugh just like it did for us yesterday.  And while you're at it, comment below on a few things that make you and your family unique soe we can celebrate with you!  We'd love to hear your quirks that make you, well, YOU.

You are loved, 

annetta