Concern yourself . . . with what it is still possible for you to do

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams.  Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.  Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."  -- Saint John XXIII

I saw this quote on a large visual display at the back of church today.  I pointed it out to Jeannie.  I really like the quote.  It resonates with me when I think about my work life.  And so, it speaks to me when I think about my future.  I've written recently about trying to let go of the negative and just do my thing, but it's still not always easy.  As I explained to Madhu yesterday, [...]'s move to the new location has been the focus of everyone's energy and attention.  And the new space is pretty nice, so I think it makes everyone feel good while everything is still fresh and new.  But knowing that, I don't want to ignore the reality that lies below the surface and the fact that my head has been hitting the ceiling for a while and that I just don't belong.

Speaking of Madhu, Jeannie and I went for a picnic yesterday in Rittenhouse Square and we invited Madhu and Diana to join us.  We had a great afternoon.  Jeannie, Seva, and I had the first half-hour or so to ourselves.  We laid down a double-folded sheet on to the ground and began eating the lunch that Jeannie had packed for us.  Seva was very comfortable.  The weather was nearly perfect in terms of the temperature, with the occasional breeze.  There were a lot of people out.  We set-up our sheet next to a group of people who had an iPod playing some music.  I told Jeannie that the vibe from the group next to us reminded me of a Gettysburg spring semester off-campus party, from the music they were playing to the way they dressed to the way they hung around and made major progress on a bunch of beer cans.  Although I can't say that I ever fit in with that crowd or sub-culture, the vibe definitely made me feel a bit nostalgic.

Returning to the perspective of our perspective, we had a nice afternoon chatting with Madhu and Diana on all sorts of life topics, that I won't even get into here.  Needless to say we had a great time.  And Madhu and Diana each did a great job holding Seva in their respective turns.  Having turned 3 weeks old yesterday, I'm getting the impression that Seva is happy when she feels close and comfortable with others and, if that's satisfied, then she's pretty easy-going.  If my take on her disposition is accurate, then I think she'll do very well for herself as she gets older.  I guess time will tell.

Later, after we'd been sitting on the lawn for a while and everyone was beginning to feel different degrees of restless, we decided to get up to walk through the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival as it was wrapping up.  Jeannie got a white sangria at the stand for Alma de Cuba, where Madhu got a bottle of water.  We continued walking until we got to Broad Street, where we hung a right, then turned left on to Pine Street, then turned right down a side street (perhaps Juniper) to head over to South Street. Spring Festival.  As with the first, there wasn't really much to see or do, especially since we wanted to avoid the loud music.  We noticed a food truck for arepas, but it was closed.  But then, right as we were about to cross 4th Street, I looked to my left and saw the actual restaurant to which the food truck belonged: Delicias.  I pointed it out to everyone and we decided to go in.  We all got our own variation of arepas: Madhu got carnitas de masa, I got pabellon, and Jeannie and Diana got vegetarian.  I think we were all pretty pleased with the food.  And the staff there was very nice and complimentary toward Seva.

We enjoyed a nice long walk west up South Street (along the way I ran into my friend Julie) and we parted ways at Broad Street.  As Jeannie and I continued on our walk home, the rain drops slowly started to come down.  As we walked into the door to our building, it started to rain.  We couldn't have timed it much better.

Last night was nice.  We laid Seva down to sleep and Jeannie and I watched The Secret Life ofWalter Mitty, which was a really good movie.  The theme of the movie was to live life to its fullest experience, which leads me back to the quote with which I opened this post.  I hope that before too long I can make a change in mindset, in role, in mission, in location, which will spark a new passion and chapter in life, one which will make me a better man.