As many of you know, I’ve been actively writing my memoir. Like for real for real… Not just in my head or in my iPhone notes, or only writing about the crazy moments and events in my life.

I am writing linearly- at least at the moment. I am currently around 15 years old- the summer of 1988 (*For anyone reading this that knew me then, please reach out- because I may have some questions🤪).

In other words- THIS BOOK IS HAPPENING.

For many months now, my husband, David, has asked me: “Did you write today?”, already knowing the answer to be a big fat YES!!!!

He usually gets himself a coffee, and we sit down at the kitchen table. I open my laptop and begin the courageous task of reading whatever came out of me that day. I read it out loud, while giving myself the grace to read it like it was meant to be read, skipping over all typos and punctuation issues.

When he first begged me to read it to him, I told him the only way I was reading this first sweep, these first brush strokes of a hot-garbage-first-draft was if he promised to listen and say nothing except YAY!!!!!!!!!!

I really meant it. I was too vulnerable… especially sharing the raw, unedited stuff that I had barely laid eyes on myself. When it first comes out, heck-I don’t even know what I’ve written half the time, so when I read it, it’s basically new to me too. But I learned to be brave. I write and read it to him, a little each day.

When our youngest daughter Flora, (who is now 14), was around 3 years old, she wanted to perform a song from Frozen for David, but she had very specific rules on how he was to act. He had to clap AND cheer “Woooooooo” at the same time or she would not do it.

So I told David, that’s the job. The exact same instructions for me: Clapping and WOOOOOing -and only then would it feel okay.

It was going along great for a long while, but one day, he got a little too comfortable… Mister “Hey-I-Just-Had-a-Thought-About-That-Part” showed up, and I was NOT at all ready.

HELLLOOOOO???? NO THOUGHTS. ONLY CLAPPING and WOOOOOOOING.

After I calmed down- ha, no I probably did not calm down…

This is what I said, rather emphatically:

This is my first draft. It is not meant for human ears or eyes. It’s the first swipe of the paint brush. The first try. I haven’t even read what I wrote yet. But, since it’s the story of my life, and we already know the ending… you may be expecting a layered, textured, colorful, vivid story already.

But this is the first comb through, and I am only working with one color… let’s say it’s the color blue- not light blue, not turquoise. And, I don’t know exactly how I want to blend it with the rest of the colors quite yet…

But, I do know I can’t get distracted. I want nothing more than to add colors and edit the crap out of the first half, but if I do that, then I know- I won’t be moving forward to the finish line… and I cannot take that risk.

He totally got it! YAY! And he promised to share all his thoughts as soon as I was ready.

Because of this, I started looking forward to sharing every little crappy bit of my writing progress- because THAT I’M DOING IT- IS THE WIN. It’s also a very magical part of the journey, so why not share it with someone who gets it and loves me. No need to do it alone.

Just yesterday I was chatting with a dear friend and long-time-runner. She had just gotten back from a marathon. A couple of her friends ran the 100K- which is 62 miles-which took them nearly 13 hours on their feet.

She chose a shorter run this time (after years of doing the longer), partly because she went to be their “crew”. I asked her what that entailed and she said giving them whatever they need in the moment, and a crap ton of clapping, woooooing, cheering, cowbells, and yelling things like:

YOU GOT THIS!!!!! KEEP GOING!!!!!!! 🎉🎉💪🏼🤩

And my personal favorite: GET YOUR F*CKING ASS TO THE FINISH LINE!!!!!!!!!!

So, yeah. LOL.

I just wanted to send out a huge thanks to David, friends and my AWR family for being “my crew”- You are truly helping me get to the finish line, whether you realize it or not!

I LOVE and APPRECIATE you SO.