breathe. b-r-e-a-t-h....e. breathe.

i was just introduced as a new hire at the company-wide meeting. in my introduction, they asked me the james lipton question. after being up until about 1:30am the previous evening finishing up season 4 and starting season 5 of my new favorite show (see previous post), the question surely jump-started my brain at 6:25am pacific.

"what is your favorite word and why?"

...

one that comes to mind is "breathe."

when i was in 6th grade, i participated in a spelling bee, that consisted of other catholic grammar schools in the area. i kinda studied for it, and i didn't realize until i got there, that i pretty much memorized the word list.

the word that came up was, breathe. in that moment a sharp stab of panic struck me, because breathe was not on the word list! only "breath" was! WTF why did she read the word breathe???

ok so i had two options - go with the answer i knew was wrong, but was on the word list, or, go with the right answer.

"breathe. b-r-e-a-t-h....e. breathe."

there was a slight hesitation from the moderator, because she meant to read, "breath"! in those 3-5 seconds that seemed like an eternity, i was already planning to walk straight to my teacher and challenge the decision if they said it was incorrect.

"correct."

whew. whewwwwwwwwww.

i went on to win the spelling bee. it was pretty cool. i did a couple more, and then retired my crown, undefeated. LOL. ok ok. i graduated and had to go to 9th grade. i remember thinking, if i could get a job spelling, i would be set. haha.

breathe is also a favorite word, because it's the first word i "tell" myself, usually without even uttering it, to unlock a stuck thought or situation. to open up another world of options and possibility.

have a super tuesday.