Orville Wright didn’t have a pilot’s license.

Now that’s most likely because he and his brother are credited with the first flight. All the licensing and regulatory business came later, but I like the idea that one of the pioneers of flight wasn’t licensed. It’s similar to the quote in the movie Julie and Julia…”Julia Child wasn’t always Julia Child”. The concept that Orville Wright or Julia Child didn’t just pop out fully formed and innovative is something it takes years of adult life to learn.

Everyone starts at the beginning and looks to those that are accomplished for the answers, the secret.

The work in progress is no picnic. It’s hard and confusing and it can feel like you are running out of time. Decisions have to be made, goals set, if you are ever going to make it to Orville or Julia.

My oldest daughter turned twenty yesterday. She is getting ready to start her second year of college. She is a work in progress. A confused jumbled mess of youth and excitement and possibility. She needs to focus this year, work hard and start making some choices for her life.

I get crazy with her sometimes about her grades or reading and always about the war zone that is her room. Here’s something she doesn’t know yet because she’s twenty and will spend years reaching for so many things. It doesn’t matter if she ends up a brain surgeon or an event planner (yes, we have run the spectrum). She’s an amazing human being already, so whatever license she may acquire or cookbook she may write in the future will only enhance the woman she already is.

Here’s another thing she can’t know yet…Once Orville and Julia “made it”, got where they were going…they probably longed for the energy and the openness of their work in progress. They missed the jumbled mess.

Life is a series of stops and starts, but your first start is one you should take some time with. Time is not running out.

My thoughts from the laundry room. You Have a Better One.

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