several years ago my husband came home from a two day seminar and shared with me some of the inspiring things he had learned. normally inspiring things heard in seminars dissipate in the brain by lunchtime, like early morning mist over the cattails. but this time, for whatever reason, several of the takeaways (and of course they were called “takeaways”) stuck with us, and have become part of our everyday vocabulary. one in particular has wormed its way deeply into our married life. for all i know the phrase is a widely known cliché, but when steve’s instructor recommended replacing  the question “what if?” with the question “what would it take?” it was as if my engineer brain was suddenly engaged, and impossible speculative goals were transformed into equations to be solved. the question was no longer “what if” we could spend an extended time in france in some improbable future, but rather, “what would it take” to get to france in two years. well, we would need to save x amount of money by y date and clear z number of weeks on our calendar. x + y + z = 3 months in southern france. algebra. i can do algebra.

red pine needles

shoreview, minnesota