On Sunday I had brunch with my friend Blanca and she brought along her friend Naturaleza (yes her real name) and the three of us dove into a deep talk about life, relationships and the importance of bein true to ourselves. Naturaleza sent me this email the next day after she checked out MCAE. I asked her permission to share on my blog because she brings an interesting angle to what defines each one of us and how every reader takes away something unique from this site.

It was so wonderful to meet you today! As soon as I came home I started reading MCAE and I haven't taken a break since--except to grab some tea. As I stand at the crossroads of a new stage in my life, I am energized by reading about the successful women on MCAE. Congratulations on a fantastic endeavor!

I appreciate the emphasis on "paths of success" because, as you mentioned, we are all works in progress. Success is in the journey precisely because no two destinations are the same. For that reason, we don't need "luck". My mother always was weary of wishing me "luck"; she always would say, "te deseo EXITO, porque no necesitas la suerte". Of course, we all get lucky at some point (hopefully more than once!) in our journey, but it's not what defines our SUCCESS.

As a translator -- mainly by default rather than by choice -- I find pleasure in playing with words. Bear with me as I have some fun:
Remove the 'o' from EXITO and you have EXIT. On any path, there are exits. And, if success is a path, then those exits are integral parts of the experience. I've taken several exits to pursue success in the arts, academia, professional development, and personal growth. The beauty that I have come to appreciate is that I can return to one of those stops or I can forge ahead to new ones, all the while knowing that the path is what ties all the exits together into a harmonious, complete, universal "O"--exitO. [The zen in me is coming out.]

Every now and again I am reminded of Baz Luhrmann's lyrics in "Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)" (1999):
"Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't."
After reading MCAE today, I was driven back to this song and realized that I know all the exits I want to take-- some I've taken, some I've skipped perhaps never to return to, some I'm heading towards, and some I'll just crash into. Most importantly, though, I belong to the breed that enjoys finding success by letting oneself get a little lost along the way and that's Okay. For me, GPS means "Go Pursue Success" -- not a system that helps me find my position in the world!

Yours truly,

Aleza Moore, MA