I think marriage, the right marriage, is the perfect tool for sharpening. Have you ever heard that marriage is like a mirror, as if the person in front of you is just holding up a mirror and showing you who you are? You can’t really argue with that person that you didn’t say that stupid thing or that you didn’t forget that important thing to do that day because the evidence is clear, and staring you in the face… and the culprit is you.
After sitting in the office with my interns for some time yesterday, we were all busy on our computers working away, I started talking to them about how I admired my husband’s way of learning. Michael, I think looks at learning as fun, playing around with a new app on his phone, or setting up the stamps.com postage system for me; he is clearly entertained. Where as I am clearly the opposite, I think of my to do list as something I dread and I certainly don’t want to play around and experiment with something because then I might ruin it. In fact, last night while we were figuring out the stamps.com I am sitting there with my notebook, trying to write out a step-by-step process on how to print stamps. Who do you think learned more about the program? And also before I could finally sit down and listen and look at Michael, he was teaching me everything else that needed my attention before then, had to be done and taken care of. Really, Molly Grace? The way that I learn or rather the way that I approach learning… hasn’t changed since I was in high school ten years ago. I was talking to “the boys” (that is my affectionate name for my interns Alex & Grant) about high school, I remember taking World History and thinking when the course was over, well good I survived that and the good news is, I won’t really need that in the real world. However, the way that I approached that class back in high school is most definitely what is haunting me now. Why is it that I approach learning with a feeling of dread, fear, and worry? Why do I not feel free to explore, get lost and find my way back, is it a girl thing? The way I was raised? Whatever it is, can it be changed?
Last summer, when Michael and I were first married and now my business was suddenly in his house, he would come home from work and ask me questions, because he was curious. Things like, how much do you spend on advertising a year, and what’s your system for mailing packages and have you ever thought of Groupon and I would be quite defensive… like… “ahh… hello I am doing the best that I can, I haven’t looked at what I spend on advertising, and I don’t have a strategy for this yet. But if you want to pull up a chair and take that on yourself, I would love it.”
We laugh about it now because we have it figured out. His questions weren’t the Spanish inquisition, they were curious questions from a guy who’s job is supply chain planning – a man who seriously gets paid to think of new ideas and systems for doing things for a pretty large company. And his questions were curious and asked out of love.
I remember a specific thought I had back then while brushing my teeth. “ You see, this is why I originally didn’t think I could handle a guy like you.” Referencing how I had unfortunately and initially chosen someone different, someone who didn’t have the background and experience and didn’t think far beyond how they were surviving, and thus… I survived in my business by working my butt off, I worked harder but not necessarily smarter and though it’s been great, it could be really amazing and more streamlined.
So here enters Michael in Molly Grace Photography. On my bulletin board post it “To Do List”, he actually has his own color, so that when I think of something I could use his help on or he comes home with a suggestion we can write it down and it can stare us in the face until we decide to take the time and do it.
And seriously so far it’s been awesome… and he cracks me up that he still sits at the computer and explores a solution for something that isn’t exactly pressing at the moment, but when he does, then it’s awesome and we got something figured out that without him probably wouldn’t have been done for at least a year from now without him.
And the other day, while driving home from the city we played a little game of guess where it’s founded, and I learned off the cuff that I did actually know that Target and Caribou Coffee were founded in Minnesota like I thought. All because we passed McDonald’s and acknowledged that McDonald’s was founded in Oakbrook. So here I go… in my learning, or in the way I approach learning. Maybe there is hope for me…
So, in this fun season I am experiencing in my marriage, we just celebrated our 1st Year Anniversary and are just as in love and excited for the future as ever… I am experiencing a season of sharpening I feel daily as I conquer tasks or check off the to do list that I am beginning this great process of sharpening, and it’s very exciting to think that my business is growing to be a productive and efficient venture all while continuing to relish and cherish the heart of each student I get to capture.
