Cue “open your eyes (to love)” by LMNT

Hello angels,

Today I’m flying back from Seattle back to DC and you all know how much I love flying and airports. But today especially, I am flying in #PremiumEconomy on Alaska Airlines (highly recommend – extra legroom and free wine/beer/cocktails on flights over 350 miles. (This is not an ad)) and I am flying over these beautiful mountains, that I want to assume are Mount Rainier can’t assume that… I need to check on a map — she said right when the flight attendants said that they apologize that the wifi isn’t working. Oh well.

Anyway so I look outside surrounded by clouds and flying right above these beautiful mountains and call it what you want, the radical amazement or magical realism kicks in and I just got an intense wave of happiness.

How lucky are we to live in a time where we have the option to jetset whereever we want around the world?

In this moment I feel so peaceful. All the plans I had to do work on the plane were now paused. I put away the memo I was reading, closed my laptop, and just looked out the window in awe.

“If love could speak it would shout to the sky, I’ve always been here, I always will be…“

Whenever I hear this song, I think of Lizzie and Paolo watching fireworks in the Lizzie McGuire movie. That was, and remains, one of my favorite scenes in that movie. Throughout my life it became a go-to song: not for a new crush but for someone I’ve been crushing on for a while and I’m realizing that they feel the same way. But maybe, in the least cheesy way possible, this is the turning point where it becomes love for everything and everyone around me.  (I guess these are the perks of having vitamin D first thing in the morning). But even more than that, I’ve been highkey neglecting my self-care the past month. April has been a TOUGH month. In fact, much of it was like Cue surface pressure from Encanto But here we are, on Justin Timberlakes “it’s gonna be may” eve, and here’s to a better May and spring up ahead.

“You’ve been searching the world to find true love, looking in all the wrong places…”

The work will always be crazy, the drama will always ensue, but throughout all of April, I’ve been reminded that I have an incredible support system of people who care about me, want me to be happy, and want me to succeed. I think that’s an incredibly humbling feeling and I’m deeply grateful for all of you. To the point where I wish I had words to express my gratitude. Hopefully I can return the favor.

“It’s here, it’s now, open your eyes and see it“

Soon I’ll be back home and I’ll get back to “real life” and will resume all my work then. Instead of working right now, I’m going to keep blasting this song on repeat, and read Lessons in Chemistry (still my favorite book of all time!) In an effort to do more things that make me happy.

I think every 6 months or so I remind myself that I should be doing things that make me happy, because it’s so easy to get bogged down with the daily complications and daily bs. Whether it’s rereading this book over and over again, Katie and me going on $5 AMC movie outings on Tuesdays at 11pm, dramatically singing Disney music while I’m shampooing my hair, or buying myself weekly flowers from farmers market and really channeling my “I’m the main character of a rom com movie” persona. (This version of me is not mutually exclusive from the “Badass Attorney Bond Girl Sandhya“)

Also in a divine interference or purely an atmospheric phenomenon, there is a beautiful rainbow outside my window. As someone who’s never seen a rainbow from a plane before, it feels like a sign

With that, cheers to May being filled with lots of happy moments and gratitude filled reflection. Much love to you all:)

Until next time!

xo

Sandhya

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