#thankfulfor: unexpected visits from out of town friends
“All I want to do is go to the gym and cry.” I told Andrea tonight as we were approaching our 10th hour of work.
Coming back to work from from the holidays is rough, especially when you’re walking into a short week with three big deliverables due. My teammate and I put in a lot of extra hours this week and by the end of the evening, I could hardly see straight. I had a lot of restless energy and figured the gym would be the best bet to just let all the stress go.
A few minutes before I was ready to head out the door, I got a text message from Michael, “I’m in town, let’s hang if you’re around!” I didn’t have to think twice before I responded to his text and headed towards SoHo to meet him.
If you don’t have someone like Michael in your life, I suggest you find someone like him quick. He’s smart, an entrepreneur, contagiously kind, and knows how to make anyone feel like a rock star.
We met on the corner of 6th and Houston and meandered towards Peep, one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. Over dinner we discussed life, silly and serious projects that we’re embarking on in 2012 (one being to email someone we don’t know every day!), and reasons that Michael should move to New York after he leaves Yale in May.
Ok, we might not have discussed the last one, but we should have. This city need a mind like Michael’s.
After dinner we met up with his friend Andrew, founder of Zoko. The three of us cozied up in a corner table at Fanelli’s (a bar in SoHo that’s been around since 1847), and chatted about startups and social marketing. While I typically hate talking about what I do outside of the office, because really, life is much more interesting than that, this was different. Michael and Andrew are both incredibly smart with ideas that challenge me to think sharper. Instead of getting a workout in at the gym tonight, I guess my brain muscles got some good flexing in.
Spending time with these peers who I learned so much from was the perfect end to a particluarly challenging week.
And for that, I’m thankful.
