Celebrating Summer, Success & What Comes Next
"To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall." - Ann Patchett
Meghan Mundy
August—the end of the summer as we know it. Up where we live, we do whatever we can to maximize outdoor time as the summer comes to an end—staring at stars, listening to the cicadas, and bringing out the blankets to sit by the outdoor fire.
My friend Meghan Mundy, founder of Fashion Week of Rochester and I always try to make a “must-do before the end of summer” list. This past month we ventured to Marge’s Lakeside, the bar on the beach of Irondequoit Bay that made the top ten best bars in America and ended the summer at the annual Dinner en Blanc in Rochester enjoying the incredible venue and company of amazing people dressed in white along with the Mayor of Rochester, Malik Evans, among others.
Left: Meghan Mundy, Mayor Malik Evans, and his wife, Shawanda | Right: Noy Cohen (Organizer)
Still, even though I’ve done a lot this summer, I always get the feeling that I have to rush to get in all the fun of summer by Labor Day, before we all start to hurtle towards the end of the year.
This was a very different summer for me, because this is the first summer in a long time when I didn’t have the lines from Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End both on and in my mind. Last year, my end of summer was capped by moving Labor Day weekend to Denver for our production at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. I was so sad to leave home, and then when it ended, I was so sad to leave Denver (a recurring theme for me). I know playing Erma will happen again, but I found myself feeling nostalgic for last year.
And that’s when I realized that when our 2024 Erma runs ended, I didn’t take a moment to stop, take a breath, and celebrate the achievement—I just moved on to the next mountain to climb.
In the same vein, this summer I had the milestone of handing in the manuscript to my book, after many long years of dreaming about it and working on it. And what did I do after I handed in the manuscript? I jumped right into next steps required to get the book into the hands of readers who would benefit from it. No breath taken, no enjoying the moment of success.
That theme of moving on before you take it in -- kept showing up this summer as I worked with clients who are at important crossroads for themselves and their organizations. They too weren’t taking the time to revel in the success that has brought them to this next stage of growth or development.
All of this has made me think that attention must be paid to endings before you move on by taking stock of lessons learned and, most important, paying attention to successes. It’s not pure nostalgia to look back on important milestones—it’s actually good for business to celebrate the milestones.
One client I worked with was always moving so fast that one day she stopped short in the middle of a meeting and said, “Wow, I never get a chance to stop, pause and celebrate what we just did before we move on to the next thing.” I said, Why don’t you make that the tagline on your email—‘Celebrate Success’?” That way, you’ll not only remember to do it, but you’ll remind everyone who gets an email from you that they should too.
So cheers to the end of summer. This Labor Day Weekend I’m going to celebrate summer, success, learning, and moving on.
To celebrate our runs of Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End we created this sizzle reel recorded at one of our last shows in Des Moines—I hope you enjoy it!
To celebrate finishing the book manuscript, I’m reading it again. Yes, it’s important to actually read what you write (phew, I like it—and wait until you see the testimonials from the amazing people who liked it too!). More to come in the coming months about Play You, the Role of a Lifetime Bridge the Believability Gap to Boost Confidence, Connection, and Impact. I cannot wait to share it with all of you and the world. Our pre-sale is coming soon, and the official publication date is April 21, 2026.
And for each of you—as you close out your summer—I hope you’ll find and take the time to celebrate and share the stories that have helped you personally or your organization get to where you are, because I always say, “Everything you want to do in the future you’ve probably done in some way in the past.” You need to learn from it, share it and definitely celebrate it before you move onto the next thing.
AND for the one thing I’ve loved this past month that might be helpful to you—this time it’s all about SLEEP—one of my favorite things to do. Sleep Is The Power Move is a self-paced, science-backed course designed to help ambitious humans stop running on fumes and start sleeping smarter. Built by sleep expert and advocate Lindsay Scola, it blends lived experience with real research to demystify sleep—without the shame, fluff, or 5 AM alarms. You can enroll in her course here.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you or your organization to grow your EDGE: Explore, Dream, Grow & Excite®. Feel free to reach out anytime.
Thank you again for subscribing, reading, and sharing this newsletter with someone who might benefit!
