I have a new friend! I have a new friend!

Every once in a great while, we meet someone who quickly touches our soul. When it's someone of the opposite sex, it tends to turn our world upside down, to rock us to the core, and sometimes to scare us to pieces. When it's someone of the same sex, however, it tends to comfort us, to vitalize us, and to stabilize us.

Today I met Lyn. Even though I'm a grown-up almost-50-year-old, my inclination was to come home, throw open the front door and announce to my family that "I have a new friend!" Our connection was swift, genuine and comforting and for a reason that I still can't identify, I completely opened up to Lyn, divulging my innermost thoughts, my goals, and my philosophies. When the poor woman had a chance to talk (I must be feeling really repressed and lonely at Microsoft!), she did the same with me.

I knew I'd like Lyn before I met her because she's an AFS volunteer (meaning she has a wide world perspective) and also because I love what she does professionally -- she consults with and mentors businesses using collaborative problem solving and team building techniques. That sounds very "vision and mission statement-y" though. The way she described it to me is that she urges business people to bring LOVE into their businesses and their business interactions, stressing that some of the same qualities that are important in nurturing and growing a personal relationship are important in nurturing and growing a business relationship. Makes total sense to me... although I have a feeling that it wouldn't have made much sense to most of the other Microsofties sitting in the MS Starbuck's cafe with us! I definitely don't think Microsoft was a company that grew with nurturing love! Its growth was spurned by quite the opposite sentiment, in fact.

In two hours I somehow told Lyn not only my life story, but my life's feelings! While I'm not shy and I'm basically an open and friendly person, opening up as quickly as I did with her today is quite unusual for me! At one point, she and I came to the same realization: that women, especially women our age, have stories to tell -- stories that are often repressed, neglected, or ignored... but stories from which we can both teach and learn as we finally focus a bit on ourselves and our own growth at this point in our lives. Lyn urged me to consider combining my video production and "storytelling" skills into something around women's changing lives. "Our hearts. Our stories." In order to go there (because I believe that women carry many secrets -- especially secret feelings), women need to feel completely safe.

Maybe it's a workshop. Maybe it's a retreat. Maybe it's a video. Maybe it's music. Maybe it's a book. Maybe it's all of those combined. All I know is that, in a place where I generally feel dry and stagnant and old, I met Lyn and within a few hours I felt energized and creative and ready to soar.

Now the gears are turning. Thanks Lyn!