By LIZ MARCHI
I am so glad I lived to read “Lean In” by Cheryl Sandburg. She affirms both curiosity and bossiness as positive attributes in girls. I was infinitely curious as a child. (Bossy is for another blog.) I can remember wandering off into Mrs. Moore’s, my piano teacher, house, while my sister Nancy (who was always a much better musician than I) took her lesson. I was curious about everything, the texture of the carpet, the art, and the smells. Our house was full of kids and activity. Dr. and Mrs. Moore were childless professors. It was another world. My friends make fun of my ability to remember details about people, places and things. All of my life I have loved new places, new people, new experiences. I consider that a real blessing as I age.
My childhood was pretty wonderful. I am sure family and friends, even my parents, took it as a sign of judgment that I left for college at 18 and never returned “home.” Not because home isn’t great, it is, and I am glad to be traveling there today, but because I am wired to relish the stimulation of new faces, places and challenges.
Sitting still was always hard for me. That’s easier in my 60’s. However, this fall I have never had a harder time making myself do office time in the glorious Montana fall. I find myself wandering around the ranch, thinking, taking deep breaths. Work is piling up, I need to complete the marketing plan for Frontier Fund 2, update a course Bill Payne and I wrote on Financing High Growth Ventures, I need to build a database on the amazing skill sets of the FF2 investor group: all work I really enjoy and I will get done if not perfectly. I gave up the unreachable quest for “perfection” a few years ago. HA! I am glad a suffered under the delusion of the attainment of that ideal however. It made me work hard and stretch and as I look back over every year, I can make myself tired! It’s a good kind of tired.
I am amazed at how many people retreat back to the past as we age. I can name any number of second marriages to former high school or college acquaintances in the 60s, 70’s and 80’s. I do think about the journey of my life but am planning forward.
I am still curious about people, places and making each day count.
Looking forward to travel to NYC, China and my 40th college reunion in the next few months but most of all being delighted by the wonder of each sunrise.
************
Liz Marchi lives on a ranch in Polson, Montana with her husband Jon. She is the Fund Coordinator for the Frontier Angel Fund and spends a lot of time thinking and learning about entrepreneurs, the economy and Montana’s unique place in the world. She has three daughters and a stepson and daughter and a grandchild. She graduated from Hollins College and is entering the final quarter of life…unless we go into overtime.