“Happiness consists not in having much, but in being content with little.”

I left Palo Alto yesterday after a fantastic weekend.  Played lots of songs on the 5+ hour drive to L.A.  I had gotten there a few days before and was kindly hosted by my friend Heather's family, much warmer then a hotel room solo.  I spent Sunday going to Farmer's Market (Mark Zuckerberg is a regular), did some shopping and at times driving by places I had frequented with my ex.  Although I did feel sad, this time around I felt better and stronger and was able to enjoy the experience and make it my own without being haunted by the ghost of my past relationship.  I felt good enough that when I got a phone call from him asking what I was up to (I had brought up a few of his remaining items he had left at my place), although nervous, I accepted his offer to get together.  After all if we are to remain friends, getting together should not be a big deal.  I had no idea how I would feel seeing him.   We met up at Evvia, a very popular greek restaurant in downtown Palo Alto ( my idol, Steve Jobs was in the house).  I did not think that on a Sunday night I would have to make a reservation so we had to wait for over an hour to get a table which gave us plenty of time to catch up.  Seeing him turned out to be a lot easier then expected.  The rose colored glasses had been lifted and reality had plenty of time to set in these past few weeks and therefore I was not my former smitten self who could not stop holding and kissing him any chance I would get.  I had been crying too many tears and feeling too much pain since he broke up with me to feel any kind of immediate affection.  When we finally sat down to eat, we kept on talking about everything but the breakup because in reality there is nothing left to say...  I know where he stands and I am still figuring my stuff out and that is my own private Idaho.  The more we talked the more all of the good things came up about us and we both acknowledge how nice it was to see each other.  We shared more conversations, laughter and some tears on what turn out to be a nice evening spent with someone I still love very much.  I did not leave sad, I left at peace knowing he still enjoyed my company, we still had chemistry and the past 3 years were not just an illusion.  The next day,  as I was delivering my presentation in front of the whole executive team at my company, having had been somewhat validated the night before and channeling my brief encounter with the master presenter, Steve Jobs I felt confident and rocked it.  Got applauses and a "nice work" from my boss.  Dare I say I was content?  What else can I girl ask for?  Well actually, diamonds, a house in the hills and a few Hermes purses if you really want to know...

Lessons from the weekend:

*Keep loving & take care of myself

*Stay passionate about what I do and dedicated to my craft

*Appreciate all that I have

Steve Jobs, genius...!