I occasionally allow myself the joyful distraction of online videos, particularly if they’re sent by one of my kids. I say occasionally because the temptation is frequent. Laura, my youngest, sent me this link to something called Grand Rapids LipDub. She and I share a devotion to Improv Everywhere, so she knew I’d take time to watch this clip with a similar feel. I loved it and hope you will, too. It represents qualities I’m passionate about living in this country of ours–the spirit of community, the freedom to create and the joy of that freedom in evidence.

I posted it on my Facebook news feed and got a comment from my Virtual Assistant, Valerie, who lives in Grand Rapids. I didn’t know that since her mailing address has a different name listed (Wyoming)–kind of like Rowayton being part of Norwalk, which not everyone knows. Valerie knew all about the LipDub and had even been invited to participate.

She wrote me a detailed message about the planning of the event and why she wasn’t able to participate. Everyone in Grand Rapids knew about it and could be in it, but Val had already made plans with friends for that weekend as well as commitments to her family soon after. She was marshalling her resources. I shared her detailed account of all this with Laura who immediately wrote back and said:

“So cool! Shows she must be a good assistant because she doesn’t blow things off for other things.”

I, too, admire Val’s values and love that Laura underscored them in her response.