Tomorrow I Will . . .

. . . start a new job. Well, kind of. I'm joining a new project down in Utah County which is the equivalent of HUGE. I'll be working full time on the project beginning this spring. It's my company's biggest public involvement project to date and I'm the one who will be working on it. It's exciting and overwhelming all at once.

The butterflies are slowly working themselves out. I have spent hours talking with my boss about this project and how I'm going to approach it. We've been talking a lot about me asserting myself as a leader in the project and how to take control from the onset.

He took this moment to teach me a lesson:

David: Now, Melissa, understand that you're going to be working with construction workers. They're a little more, um, salty, than your average fare of consultants.

Melissa: Yes, I've worked with construction workers before.

David: And why did they like you?

Insert lead up to lesson.

Melissa: Because I'm a girl.

Consider me playing coy. This is not the answer he was looking for.

David: And?

Melissa: And, for a girl, I wear makeup and blow dry my hair.

Still, not the answer he's looking for.

David: And?

Melissa: Well, now that you mention it, I also have a bright pink purse. Those guys love to tease me about it.

He explodes. The opportunity for a tender learning moment between teacher and student has been lost.

David: NO! Because you went in there and you were smart and you demanded their respect!

Melissa: Oh, well, there was that, too.