Flying with nothing?

I received an email from someone that I had not seen in over 10 years. She asked me to tell her what was going on in my life. I said nothing. Why did I say that? isn't sitting on the bench that Toni Morrison brought to Sullivan's Island something to write about? Of course it is and I wrote about it. What about hearing Toni read her book, spending 10 days in Chile, developing a blog that has over 700 readers to date, writing a book (a book not published yet, looking for an agent, but completed), working on my PhD, completing 2 marathons, having lunch with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and establishing a foundation to fund women's dreams? Aren't those things something?

So why did I say nothing? Why did I think that I am in the same exact place she left me years ago? Am I not proud of what I have done? Do I think that what I have accomplished is not good enough compared to what she has done? I do not even know what she has done. Was I simply being modest or being afraid? Afraid that she would ask the question that I get tired of answering? You know the question. We all have one.

I do not understand why I said nothing, but I said it. That is not the first time I have said it. I say it quite a bit. I guess the important thing is that I know I have done plenty of somethings in the last 10 years. I do know that, don't I? Maybe I don't. Or maybe I am measuring myself against an invisible standard that even I don't understand. A standard that was handed to me by someone. A standard that I readily accepted. A standard that is not allowing me to fully appreciate my worth and to celebrate my accomplishments.

I am not sure. What I am sure of is the next time someone asks me what is going on in my life, I am going to say "Quite a bit, how about in yours?"