The Missing Piece
In April, I began a yearlong exploration of Presence which I've dubbed the Here Year. For my first month, I thought about Presence through the lens of Home and now, in May, I've been thinking about Parenthood. I'm excited about this project (even though I'm not sure I had any business adding anything to my proverbial plate!), but I haven't been able to shake the feeling that something's missing.
Well, I figured out what that something is and her name is Lindsey Mead. Maybe you know Lindsey and her beautiful blog A Design So Vast? Lindsey and I met in this odd ether, a fact of which I'm curiously proud, and our friendship over the past five years has gone swiftly from virtual to virtureal to very much real. Lindsey and I chat often about topics big and little, profound and perfunctory. We've talked about it all - our respective Ivy League Insecurities (Linds is a Princeton and Harvard Business School grad - dummy, right?), our lives and our loves. Though she lives outside of Boston and I live here in New York City, we see each other fairly often in person which is always wonderful.
Over the past several years, Lindsey and I have together and separately grappled with, and written about, the topic of Presence, which has turned out to be an abiding theme in our lives and written examination of those lives. Again and again, we have asked each other and our respective readers what it means to truly be here in our lives. We have reached no ready answers, but it has proven a privilege to keep asking alongside each other. So often when I read Lindsey's musings on life I am left nodding, connecting deeply with her palpable gratitude for her life and family, as well as her inchoate melancholy about the ruthless passage of time. We have much common ground and all of this is to say that I know Lindsey will be an integral and important part of my, and her, Here Year.
The funny thing is that Lindsey and I talked a lot about this project before I started it and we've talked about it in recent weeks too and we have yet to determine what our co-exploration will look like. At a minimum, Lindsey will write an essay per month exploring the topic of focus. At a maximum, she and I won't stop talking about this stuff, bringing what were once personal conversations into a more public light. We will see. We are excited to see.
Anyway, I'm simply thrilled. If you don't already know Lindsey, her exquisite thinking and writing, you are in for a true treat. To celebrate our collaboration, Lindsey and I will be hosting a Twitter Party from 4-5pm EST today Wednesday, May 14. Follow us - Lindsey (@lemead) and me (@adonnrowley) and find the festivities at the hashtag #TheHereYear. We will be talking about Presence, Parenthood & anything else that might come up. Hope you'll join us!
