beBetter 

About once a quarter, I hire Tony to completely detail my SUV. He always comments on how dirty it is. Today will be no different as he drives up to pick it up. I know it is muddy as I have been over at camp and had it off on a trail looking to fish our oxbow lake.

CeCe is the guardian of her Aunt Kate, who is a resident at an independent living facility about two miles from our house. Aunt Kate is 83 and a retired teacher and principal. She is bright as ever, always keeps up with current events, however, she has begun to have short-term bouts with confusion. This has not really caused any real problems and she still drives her car for short errands around town. Well, no problems until tonight.  

Capturing the beauty and power of this storm so closely is a bucket list experience. Now, it’s certainly not something I have listed on my bucket list, yet as I experience this with CeCe with the wind rushing all around us, lightening beginning to pop in the near distance, it is an experience of awe and beauty. Scary, but beautiful, is the best way I can describe it. 

“I would take a 7:30 a.m. hair appointment. I mean it, I would not hesitate.” I listen in shock as I look into CeCe’s eyes to make sure I heard her correctly. This one statement says so much about how eager we are to get our lives back. CeCe hates to get up early! However, after weeks of sheltering at home, she will do just about anything for some semblance of normalcy.

This pandemic has rocked our world and the digital accelerator was pushed to the floorboard. We’re not going back to business as usual before COVID-19, and our profession is starving for more diverse teams to lead our clients and our nation out of this recession and into economic recovery. In a recent AICPA Insights blog, I shared opportunities for women to propel our profession forward with expanded influence and leadership during this pandemic and beyond. 

On a recent early morning trip to the gym, you can imagine my surprise when I came across these two ducks in the parking lot!  

I have to admit, at first, I thought someone had set decoys out to see if people would stop and look.  As I started walking towards the gym, I would just glance over, trying not to look right at them in case it was a joke.  I’m vain like that, I can’t stand for someone to trick me.  Then, the ducks started moving around so I knew this was the real deal.  (On a side note - what does this pool of water say about the parking lot?). This was so incredible, the ducks acted like this was their new home.  In places, the water was deep enough for them to swim around.