I think, perhaps, the gift of listening is most precious gift a person could give to me just now. Today, I have had two people give this gift in different ways, but yet both proved to be a balm to my beleaguered person.

Be careful what you ask for, eh? Someone at work who has genuinely been an obstacle to my objectives and whom I have found no way around is leaving. The leaving is a loss for the company. The leaving paves the way to new growth for the company. It is the same for me.

I worked until after 1:00 AM last night and am working again tonight (much refreshed after receiving my gifts, I must add). I have truly more than I can do at work and more than I should be doing at home. I am grasping at beads spilling through my fingers, wondering what I will have left with which to weave my work.

And, yet, my heart is lighter sitting here because two people gave a gift to me. One sat in silence for a long while, patient to let me speak. One asked questions, probing my frustration and easing the pain by commiserating with me. I am certainly not alone. Neither offered answers. One stopped me when I offered thanks. "We are friends, this is what women do for each other, she claimed." I confess I am not wholly accustomed to that mentality. Women doing for each other, that is.

My boss now is the first woman for whom I have ever cared to work. Female bosses, in my experience, tend to make things personal and turn nearly everything into a competition. Funny that I would write that now. I have not, until this moment, thought about the fact that I am working for a woman after claiming for years I preferred to work for a man because doing so meant being able to focus on the professional to a far greater degree.

Strange what comes to mind when your thoughts and emotions are a tumultuous mess...and you are tired.