Note: This post is part of an ongoing blog series called #costamesa365 where the author is striving to shop only* in her city of Costa Mesa, for a year.
Last year, my extended family – parents, siblings, nieces, nephews – all piled into a vacation house on the Central Coast.
At dinner, one night, we pulled out our Table Topics deck – a game were you pull a card, ask the question, and then go around the table answering it.
It’s a great prompt for sharing stories and perspectives that might otherwise never come up in conversation. The kids also learn a lot by listening to how adults of different generations answer various queries.
So on this particular night, the question was, “If you could invite one person – living or dead – to dinner, who would it be?” Answers varied from Elon Musk to DanTDM, but for both my sister-in-law and I it was a no-brainer, “Duh! Brené Brown!“
While my SIL is more of a Daring Greatly girl, I’m the hugest fan of her book The Gifts Of Imperfection.
So when my January birthday came around, I received a lovely text that she had secured two tickets for us to go see Brown give her lecture “The Call To Courage” at Royce Hall, UCLA in Los Angeles. Yes!
The day of the lecture arrived, and I knew I had to stay true to #costamesa365 even as I was traveling to L.A. for the night. There wouldn’t be any dinner or souvenirs on this trip.
But that suited my SIL just fine. As a busy physician and mom, she was good to just meet up at the Whole Foods in Huntington Beach so we could drive up together.
She bought her dinner at Whole Foods – which, of course, I couldn’t do. But I’m getting much better at planning these things ahead. So, I happily scarfed a quick, bean burrito at home – then nibbled Costa Mesa carrots and kombucha while driving up to L.A. on my tank-full of Costa Mesa gasoline.
The evening was amazing from start-to-finish. Great conversation on the drive up and back. Brown was as funny and insightful lecturing live, as she is in any of her books or TED talks.
I kept to #costamesa365 so my conscience was clear even as I enjoyed a grand, Los Angeles adventure.
My time standing in line, queuing up for the talk, was an unexpected highlight. Brown draws a uniquely interesting and intelligent crowd, if the anecdotal evidence of my conversations are to be believed.
I had some serious fun chatting up my line-mates, asking them, “Which Brené book is your favorite? What brought you here to see her? Where did you come from? What do you do for a living?”
Can I also give a shout-out to all the men who came out to see a lecture on shame, vulnerability and courage? Strong showing. You guys are an inspiration!
I would love to see Brown come and lecture here in Costa Mesa, sometime, maybe at one of the Segerstrom theaters. Either way, we are so lucky to live here in Costa Mesa, with world-class opportunities, both locally and just a freeway-or-two away.
Also, I’m getting better at accepting out-of-Costa-Mesa gifts from friends and loved ones, while still staying true to my year-long challenge to only spend my money in Costa Mesa.
Thanks to my SIL’s generosity, I am feeling the call to courage in my own journey to #costamesa365 – now more than ever before.
It’s really starting to sink in that – with a little advanced planning – the world can be my oyster, even as my financial focus remains firmly fixed on home. ♥
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*We will always start by shopping / looking in Costa Mesa, first. But if we really need something and an alternative is nowhere to be found in Costa Mesa, we’ll stray. Also, as parents, we’ve decided that certain kid-related things (mainly educational) will need to remain baked in.
