The ultimate recipe

The Cincinnati Social Media Breakfast this morning featured the opportunities to get inside the Midwest Culinary Institute, eat homemade "pop tarts" from Cooking With Caitlin and hear about CWC's social media strategy.

But what stood out was a simple sentence spoken by Kelly Trush, one of CWC's founding partners:
"We never thought we had to do anything but what we loved."

Kelly was describing the spirit she enjoyed growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, where her parents led the way in teaching their children by example how to follow their dreams and be their own bosses.

Kelly is now a mother of three, a talented writer, a business maven and an absolutely  ebullient personality who makes you want to be in her presence. I know this because I have met her exactly twice and cannot stop thinking about the way she radiates joy.

It's worth noting a few points: Kelly doesn't know I'm writing this; no one has asked me to say these things; Molly and Caitlin are incredible women, too; and I'm certain this has a creepy, stalker-y connotation as read by someone who might not know me very well.

Thing is, when I like someone, I feel it right away. And from the moment I saw the CWC trio a few weeks back at NKU, I knew these were my kind of people.

They are women who inspire me. I have reached a point in my personal and professional growth where I think a lot about what is next. What do I want? What can I do? What are the limits? Are there limits? WHY are there limits?

Kelly's comment today amazed me because it was so simple -- Do what you love. Duh. -- yet it seems so rarely put into practice by most of us.

I don't know that I'll ever own a business. I doubt I'll really ever drop everything and go to cooking school. But I long to have the experience Caitlin describes of spending her first day at culinary school and sobbing that night because she was so content, knowing she was exactly where she belonged.

Where do I belong? I'm not sure I know yet. But Molly, Caitlin and Kelly reminded me today not to give up trying to figure that out.