I am officially 40 Under 40

I was acknowledged for my contributions to Oklahoma City by OKC Biz. According to the article in the October edition announcing our names, “Forty Under 40 extols the achievements and community involvement these young people demonstrate while exhibiting work/life balance.”

 I am grateful. I do work hard and it’s nice to get a public you’re doing a great job by someone who isn’t my dad. I can’t say that I feel very balanced most of the time, but it’s nice to think someone else thinks I do. Life is pretty hectic most days. 

Want to know a secret? I nominated myself for two years in a row about 4 years ago, confident that I was a shoo-in. Both times never worked out and my second rejection letter convinced me to give up. Those were the immediate post-divorce years and I was desperate to be told I was awesome, because I sure didn’t feel awesome. 

But this year, someone else nominated me. I had a hunch I knew who and asked the suspect at breakfast one day. She confirmed, but it didn’t make me feel any less loved. It was nice. 

Getting this acknowledgement felt more like a gift to the Sheri back then than to the Sheri today. She worked really, really hard back then because she didn’t know anyone. Didn’t have a whole lot of friends. Life was harder, the village was smaller. She deserves this. 

The gift to today’s Sheri was this ad that my company placed in the current issue of the magazine. That evening when I got back from the reception I was on the sofa texting friends, telling them about my evening. As I was flipping through the magazine to see what else there was to see, I ran into this. Totally a surprise to me. I texted the pic and he responded, “You are loved.”

Indeed, I am.