Bonus

I made a contract with myself 39 days ago in a hotel basement in Austin, Texas.

It hangs around my neck. It's written on this blog. It's a statement on my bathroom mirror.

Seven words strung together, two of them key, which I hand-selected out of a plethora of options. I didn't know how these words would change my life.

Funny, isn't it, how we make contracts with other people but the notion of making one with yourself is ridiculous?

I'll be the first to admit that the journey I started 39 days ago is absurd. My Wilson ball is silly, the fact that I'm madly in love with 34 people who I just met 39 days ago is ludicrous. That just doesn't happen in the real world.

But what if it's supposed to?
What if it really is completely normal to put 35 random strangers in a hotel for a weekend and have them emerge 72 hours later different, glowing, laughing, healed?

It sounds like reality TV.

Only this time, there's a bonus. It is reality and it can be for everyone. I'm living proof.

I am a courageous and strong woman.