At the age of 41, I'm finally approaching a place where I'm OK if others are disappointed in something I did or didn't do. I used to walk around with this weighty guilt on my shoulders if I fell short of someone else's expectations of me. When I was younger, I wanted to please EVERYONE. Now a little older and a whole lot wiser, I realize that pleasing the masses leaves me feeling depleted, used up. As my very wise cousin once told me, you can never disappoint someone. Their disappointment is theirs. You can't make anyone feel a certain way. Period. Now that's a liberating place to be - not taking on another person's emotions. Heck, I've got enough of my own to deal with. And I used to fret over the loss of a friendship. Now I can step back and see that life is not static - there's an ebb and flow to everything including who I may or may not be close to anymore depending on changes in my life and theirs. More than anything, as I get older, I'd much rather surround myself with a few quality folks than try to have superficial relationships with dozens and dozens of people. If I didn't need so much sleep at night, I'd have a few more hours in a day to keep in touch with many more people I care deeply about. But I do need my sleep and with that said, goodnight and sleep tight.