we are women project: I Am

When I was 12, having just moved to a new house, neighborhood, city, state, part of the country, I was horribly intimidated by the fact that I was going to have to find new people to be friends with. The very first person I met was Mary-Jane. She made the whole "becoming friends" feel like it was no big deal. All of the sudden I had a huge group of friends because she introduced me to them all and helped me be a part of them. And now, years later, she has traveled the world, been in I have no idea how many operas and become a truly inspiring woman. She is beautiful, glamorous, thoughtful, crazy talented, and crazy fun. Her blog archi loves mary-jane holds the pictures and words to prove it. Just knowing her makes me feel I have a little of that in me too. I wanted you to meet her and get to know a little of who she is. So, without further ado, meet Mary-Jane:

I am an opera singer.

It’s hard.

I love it.

I hate it.

I dream about it.

I practice hard.

I don’t practice at all.

I want to travel the world.

I want to stay inside.

I am a performer.

I am introverted.

I am settled.

I am confused.

I am realizing that my path to becoming an opera singer is getting harder and harder because I am faced with more important and challenging decisions.

When I was younger my path seemed easier, clearer. Go to college. Do well. Go to graduate school. Do well. Go to an apprentice program for an opera house. Do well. Now your life is set. It was all planned-out. So easy. So simple. Whoopsy. I’m finding it’s impossible for me to plan a perfect little path because something will change whether it’s me, my desires, my options, my location, or my loved ones. Nothing is finite. I am changing and my perfect little world and path that I’ve created is changing too.

I have a partner and best friend in life and what he wants and needs is just as important as my own personal desires. (A lesson I’m learning.) I want him to succeed and I want him to be able to follow his own dreams as well. Sometimes it gets tricky trying to meet each other on our various paths, but I think so far we’ve done pretty well. But it’s our next stage that is a little dubious.

Sometimes you have to live in middle-land for a while and not be sure quite what the next step is. It's kind of weird, but I'm trying to make the most of it. I need to remind myself everyday that middle-land is a beautiful place to be. We haven’t quite reached our ultimate career goals but we’re on the way. We have time to pause and notice what we are doing now and what it is we really want to be doing.

Whilst chasing my dreams of being an opera singer I sometimes forget that I have other interests and talents. Middle-land is teaching me that I can use all of my other resources and talents to make additional dreams and desires realties.

I am a dreamer.

I love being a dreamer.

I am a dancer. (in my living room or kitchen)

I am a wife.

I love my husband.

I like to sew.

I am a friend.

I am a traveler.

I laugh too hard.

I am a sister.

I can be a nerd.

I am a daughter.