Last weekend I went camping with nine neighborhood families. We were a large group, and as soon as the kids went down, we gathered around the fire, breathing in the smoky evening air and listening to the sounds of the outdoors.
During one of those evenings, we played a card game called The Ungame. Think icebreaker, but designed for deeper conversations. A bonding game of sorts.
The question I was asked to answer was: Fill in the blank. I'm the type of person that ___________.
Deep conversations are so my thing. I own a deck of Esther Perel's Where Should We Begin which I dearly call it "the crying game". I genuinely enjoy getting to know people. The many layers that make up a person fascinate me. No two people are alike, and whenever someone feels safe enough to share something personal, I feel deeply honored to receive it.
But this question caught me off guard, and it took a bit to come up with an answer. What finally came out was: I'm the type of person that does what she says she'll do. And that is true. I take my commitments seriously. I am notoriously unflaky. But it felt like a safe answer. Accurate, but surface level.
I have had a week to sit with it now, and I think the most honest answer is this: I am the type of person who is exactly half my mother and half my father.
My mother loved people. She felt everything deeply. She was curious, strong-willed, creative, and sharp when it came to business. My father is brainy in a philosophical way. He is an excellent orator and storyteller. I did not realize the gift I had inherited from him until I started writing these Sunday letters. He is goal-oriented, kind to his bones, stubborn, and a risk taker. In the end, I am a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A person still figuring out which parts of them came from somewhere else, and which parts are entirely their own.
The question surprised me because it's not asking what you've done or what you are going through. It's asking what kind of human you are. And that, requires some digging.
So I am leaving you with the same question this week. Fill in the blank. I'm the type of person that ___________.
With love,
Maria.
The evening of the question at hand.