It gets better

Recently my company has lost several employees, a few of whom I've grown attached to over the last several months. I miss them -- their humor, their intelligence, their insights and their potted plants. Knowing them makes life better.

Last night, after spending several hours celebrating -- celebrating a number of things, among them freedom, friendship and fresh starts -- I got out of the subway early and walked up Central Park West, just as I did a little more than a month ago, this time wearing a warmer hat and feeling less of a rush to get home.

New York is a hard city. It's tough and expensive and impersonal at times. I expected to find adventure here. I expected to find possibility. I expected to find something altogether different, which I desperately needed. I did not, however, expect to find happiness, or happier-ness. That has been the pleasant surprise.

I think many of us go through a portion, if not all, of our lives letting things happen to us. We react in various ways, and that is what life is. These days, I'm finding that making life happen is far more satisfying than letting it happen.