I know in my blogs I have talked about change a lot. People taking the leap constantly inspire me! I thought this week I would share some of their stories.

I’ll start with my friend Amy. The story I heard a long time ago (I don’t know if it’s true) was she was a fan of Days of Lives so after graduating from UCLA she got a job in the music department under my good friend Marty Davich. When Marty left the show after I think 15 years, she took over as the head of the music dept. A year and a half ago the show had big budget cuts and a bunch of us were let go, including Amy. She had been there FOREVER and this was a huge change. She had never been home full-time with her two boys who are now 3rd and 6th graders. But by no choice of her own she was thrown into this situation. 

Fast forward to today and they all love it! Whenever I talk to her she is off on some adventure either around town or away. She said recently heard one of her boys say to someone, “My mom being fired was the best thing that ever happened to us.” One of their adventures took them to Boulder, Colorado. The entire family fell in love with the town and the warm and friendly people. Her husband has a job that he can do anywhere so they decided to return home, sell their house and move lock, stock and barrel. I had lunch with her yesterday and they are finishing packing and moving on Friday. The more she has investigated the more opportunities she is seeing in her future…maybe even a part time gig in radio. Good luck to her and her adventurous family!

Speaking of my friend Marty, who is a composer by trade, he is also now taking a leap into the unknown. His wife (and my best friend) opened an incredible home store almost a year ago. She was a stay at home mom and jumped into this whole-heartedly and has had amazing success! Marty is a real ‘foodie’…he loves specialty markets and warm, friendly eateries. He has just broken ground on his version or should I say vision. The sweet part is it will be next door to his wife’s shop, Maude Woods, so they can pop in and out and see each other all day. He is taking a passion and running with it. No matter the result, he is putting himself out there and taking the risk. He will undoubtedly grow and learn from this new experience.

Lastly, but in the forefront of my mind today, is my oldest (baby) son Danny. After his limbo summer, he set out to Korea for a job of teaching English (the subject) for a year. Talk about change! He was nervous, excited, paralyzed … a slew of different emotions. I tried to take a photo of the kids before he left since they were all home and he looked catatonic in all of them. Oh brother….He called last night (of course in the middle of the night) to say he had made it, but felt like a space alien since hardly anyone speaks English in the town where he is. AND of course he never got around to learning one word of Korean. The tales of even his first day had me laughing. I know he will grow tremendously from this experience, learn adversity and survival! I told him to learn “how do you say this” in Korean and set out to ask and learn…a true emersion!

I’ll make sure to update you all with all of their progress.

My point in sharing these stories is to show that even though change can be scary is can also be good. Whether you are put into a situation that you did not choose or you have chosen to make a change, leap in whole heartedly. You may be pleasantly surprised by what comes from it!