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I wanted a place where I could work while I was visiting Atlanta in January 2016 to work a little while attending AmericasMart (see my 3 part AmericasMart for beginners blog series) and Foster popped up in an Instagram search. She founded More Love Letters in 2011 and she gives a compelling, and moving, TED Talk (with 1.9 M views, by the way) about her inspiring letter writing journey here: I’m not an overly romantic Valentine’s Day participant. With that said, and in living more intentionally these days, rather than do all of the traditional Valentine’s day festivities, I’ve decided to dedicate most of my time today and the rest of this week, writing letters to the current list of people on Hannah’s If you’re interested in joining me, and sending some love out into the world, please visit More Love Letters, specifically The Letter Requests page to read the touching pleas from folks who love these people and wish for them to feel the love back.

But given what happened on the latest episode, the highly anticipated Super Bowl episode of this past Sunday, I can’t stop thinking about Jack. There are so many things I want to say, and my thoughts on Jack could be done in a multiple part blog series, but I will keep it simple by saying this: Jack Pearson is not concerned with being popular. Jack Pearson is simply concerned with being fully present with the people he loves, being vulnerable whenever possible, being strong, calling people out when they need it, speaking truth, he’s selfless, he has a servant heart, integrity is his middle name, he has well established boundaries (with his own father), he backs off when necessary, and most of all, he just fully loves those he loves. One of my favorite moments on a recent episode was 2 weeks ago as the Pearsons were preparing for the Super Bowl (1998) and Jack was in the living room showing off the new TV console he built, and his son, Kevin, was standing over him and Kevin said “no one cares”, to which Jack replied “I care.

We went from a 2800 square foot house with a basement down to a 1400 square foot house with no basement. We originally had them hanging in a closet, but we also have a 2 shelf metal rack in there where we store pantry items. We do have a 2.5 car garage now, which we didn’t have before, so there is room out there that is being underutilized. I had a few items already that I knew I’d want to incorporate, like a fabulous, black, chippy, vintage hook they were already hanging their backpacks on, and a vintage chair, but what else can I add?

One of the main traits I’ve discovered over the past few years, and especially flushed out in working closely with Kim Butler of The White Boardroom, and Gail Swift of Plans to Prosper Coaching to find out more about who I am, what my goals are, and why I do what I do, is I am an idea generator, but I am also what’s called a compassionate entrepreneur, meaning the ideas I generate usually involves inspiring or improving upon what already exists to make this world, hopefully, a better place. It’s a blessing and a curse because my mind is very chatty and it takes a lot of effort some days to quiet it down. My battle, because I don’t have a board room full of creatives at my disposal to assist in moving forward on the ideas, leaves me sifting through ideas which are wishful and which ones are plausible. I’ve learned to carefully listen to my inner voice and tune in to which ones keep whispering and never let up.