I just got back from a less-than-24-hours trip to NYC to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus. I sang with what was then a brand new chorus from 2003-2011. It was a big part of my life. They are now celebrating 25 years (with an album release! Just look up YNYC on Spotify) and they had a party in Brooklyn.
It was so much fun. I traveled in with a friend from the choir who now lives in Philly. I took an uber to her office Thursday afternoon and then she drove us to our hotel in Brooklyn. We then walked along the waterfront a bit (so pretty!) and went to the celebration. There weren’t a ton of people from my era, but there were a few and we had so much fun catching up and then going to the after party afterwards. We didn’t go to bed until 1 a.m.!
(I met a young woman who is in the choir who told me that she found YNYC because she read one of my books and I’d mentioned the choir in there. She was intrigued, looked to see if the choir was still around, and when she learned it was, she auditioned. How cool is that?)
We got a slow start this morning, and were in the car around 10:40. There’s little traffic Friday during the day so we got back to my house at 12:40 p.m. I have to remind myself sometimes that NYC (including Brooklyn) is just not that far away.
This week’s content…over at Before Breakfast, I interviewed the wonderful Lauren Smith Brody on making a smooth transition back to work. In the short episodes, I talked about how “Your life starts now.” In my earlier episode with Farnoosh Torabi, she mentioned that many people wait to pursue financial goals until…something (you get married, for instance). But if there’s something you want there’s no need to wait around indefinitely for some other life stage to happen first. I also suggested asking “Why am I doing this?” about things that somewhat mindlessly fill our time. Sometimes there is a good reason, and asking why can reconnect us with the purpose. Sometimes there isn’t a good reason. Good to know!
Over at Vanderhacks, my Substack newsletter, I suggested one way to make an evening adventure more likely: “Stop on the way home.” Sometimes, once we get home, it can feel really hard to get back out the door. Making something a stop on the way home solves that motivation problem. Behind the paywall I wrote about “What I packed for 10 days in Japan” (carry-on only!) and “10 things to plan now for a better summer.” Please consider a free or paid subscription.
And please check out Big Time — which will be published May 5th! It’s right around the corner…
