I originally majored in psychology because I wanted to understand people. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand statistics, so that didn’t work out.

I think even from childhood, I have tried to understand people – why we behave as we do, why we feel as we do. Ultimately, I decided the most important person to understand is myself, because I have the most control and insight over myself. I learned that I can’t be the only one supporting a relationship. I learned that I may never understand why people do and feel the way they do, and I may never understand why I behave and feel as I do, but I can work on myself. I can’t always make myself do better or make better choices, but I have a significantly better chance of forcing myself to do something than I do of forcing anyone else to do anything.

I schedule my life like I understand the airport schedules flights: I overbook. I do it because I have a high capacity for people and events, because I am an extrovert, and because people consistently let me down and I need more people than most to remain fulfilled. I think that’s the short of it. So, Lord only knows what it must feel like for most of you who only need something like 3 people in your life when I let you down – because I do. I am a person and I am fallible and I have bad days and I screw things up.

And I will apologize for the bad days and the things I screw up, but not for being different and busy and having difficulty understanding group limits when it comes to scheduling events. If you want one on one time with me, I am truly flattered – and confused – and you will have to be really specific in making sure I understand that this goal is important to you, because likely you know someone else I know and it makes sense to me that they should join us, or I know someone I think you would like and they also should come along. I am a gatherer of people. It may well be a double-edged sword, but I think most days, it is a splendid gift.