Once upon a friend’s birthday, Mary’s edition.
Have you noticed I tend to post about lots of birthdays and then no birthdays and then lots of birthdays and then none?
I’d like to promise you, darling reader, this is due to the birth patterns of my friends. I know myself well enough, however, to admit I’ve missed several friend’s birthdays along the way because of other subject matter or shiny objects, so I’ve poorly celebrated several dear ones.
I’d also really like to promise to do better...but again, I know myself well enough...and you’d see through my vow before I could stutter the words.
Missed opportunities aside, I endeavor today to celebrate my friend, Mary! As I am wont to do, I have interviewed myself about her and skillfully sussed out some fun tidbits. Read them below:
Interviewer Me: So, how did you meet Mary?
Blogging Me: I met Mary before she met me as I helped craft a press release about her arrival at our office. Clearly, I had the good taste and fortune to become friends and fellow adventures as soon as possible.
Interviewer Me: She sounds cool. Tell me about what you love about this Mary?
Blogging Me: Outside of being a delight to just know...Mary is part mentor, part confidant, and complete fun. She’s a celebrated speaker, a giant in our industry (I’ll show you a Rockstar...you....Rockstar People I’m not cool enough to know to name here), and giant nerd when it comes to learning. She’ll go down the rabbit hole on any subject and come out a genius every time. I still think she may the one person in the United States to have read (and understood!) all the regulatory rules our industry has written.
Despite all this, she’s just Mary to me. She doesn’t require staff to bow and scrape. She doesn’t expect to dispense Yoda-style wisdom in every conversation, and she never demands the spotlight. She just befriends people. She finds what makes you tick and learns about it with you. She delights in your stories and shares her own. She just comes alongside you and does life.
I love many things about her, but these are a few of my favorites. Oh, and she loves puppies so clearly, we’re soul mates and she’s good people. Also, she watches great TV and obsesses over podcasts like me. I guess I had a few more favorites that needed to be shared.
Interviewer Me: Speaking of...do you have a favorite Mary-anecdote?
Blogging Me: The color wheel. In my trade, a color wheel is a way of life. I’ve used one for years to help build palettes and consider blends. Mary, self-described brand geek, was part of the executive team to whom I pitched a corporate rebrand. I brought one pitch meeting to a near halt when I whipped out my color wheel to explain the science behind my color recommendations. I swear I’ve seen new brides stare at sparkly rings and small children follow an ice cream truck with less obvious adoration. Now, Mary had already walked through grad school and about a hundred marketing campaigns with me and my department, but this one moment helped me realize how very much she was my people. She fell for a color wheel. She's perfect.
Obviously, I bought her a color wheel of her very own at my first opportunity.
Interviewer Me: If you could tell Mary one thing on her birthday, what would it be?
Blogging Me: You’re incredible. Yes. You. I hope we never run out of shared adventures, podcasts, or puppies.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mary!