Sometimes I talk too much ... sometimes I remember to listen!

Today was one of those days when I kept it in pretty good balance overall. Started off frustrated with a medical lab -- second time I had to go and still couldn't get the blood drawn in time to get to work, and it's just a pain to keep trying to go early enough not to conflict with work and still not finish the labs. I kind of mouthed off -- wasn't rude, but definitely vented.

Then I had a business meeting with someone from outside our organization and the gal, who's almost young enough to be my daughter, wants to talk about her mother-daughter stuff, and boyfriend stuff, and career stuff ... all this before we even open the first file! So I guess I was listening pretty well, cuz she hugged me when I left.

Lunch with a few colleagues, and there was good give and take.

Another meeting a little later in the day included my boss -- an extremely soft-spoken and gracious man -- and I think he's starting (after a year!) not just to get used to my sometimes tart comments but to be amused by them. Thank goodness. They're never directed to anyone in our office, but he's been with the organization for so long that I think he feels like he's related to (and therefore protective of) almost everyone in the company. Plus he really values kindness. I think he's seen me behave kindly under enough circumstances that he knows I've got at least a little of that in me too. And I am trying to learn graciousness from him.

Then toward the end of the day, one of my most valued colleagues and partners stopped in, as she does almost every day, to see how the day had gone. And of course I started to ramble, which is the last thing she really wanted 45 minutes before the end of the day, because she really likes to leave at 5 on the dot -- she's the kind of person who'll come in before the sun, but she likes to leave on time.

So I'm still working on making sure I only talk the right amount ... and that I use the right kinds of words. On my way home I stopped at a filling station across the street from a business where some young men had cranked up their music so loud that when I was filling my tank, I could hear it louder than I ever have played music myself. So when I went inside to get a drink, I said to the cashier -- who was a member of the same ethnic group as the young musicians -- "Intending no disrespect, but if they need their music that loud now, how loud do you think they'll need it after they blast out their hearing?"

That got a wide smile. Which put a good ending on a day of little successes and little opportunities to do better next time.