True Story

When I worked at Washington Mutual a woman, let's call her Irene, came and said, "somebody has collapsed in the bathroom and is asking for you." I went and helped my friend with her high blood pressure incident, but for the next three years every time I saw Irene she told me and everyone else in hearing range what an awful experience that was for her. How unnerving it was to go into the bathroom and find someone collapsed on the floor. How it gave her nightmares. How no one could imagine the horror of it unless they also had found someone on the bathroom floor.

True story.

When I started working at Online Shoes Irene started working there also and her tale continued and grew. Finally our paths parted as she followed her yellow brick road to a different Oz. I'm afraid to say "our paths parted forever" because you never know.

Do you know people like that? People that every incident is always and only about them? People that 9-11 meant they had to cancel their Hawaii trip? People that a massive traffic accident with fatalities meant they were late for work? The person that when they stepped on someones toes they spilled their Starbucks? Yep, those people.

I hear folks talk about their passion for nature and it's about them -- not nature.
Their passion for volunteering and it's about them -- not the people they are helping.
Their tender heart that is always hurt because they are so tenderhearted.
If they love their pets, kids, spouses, job, family -- it's about them.
They somehow never get outside of themselves. Never into the world.

In my struggle to understand I came to a conclusion. We all do what we do to survive this life journey. I read where "the true nature of the universe is compassion" and I know that is simply not true. Not the true story.

I believe the true story of the nature of the universe is survival.

Survival, not compassion or love or anything else we humans have thrown into the mix. I believe you can weave human elements in. You can weave a lot of love, compassion, passion, tenderness, excitement, adventure into this true story of our life, but at the root it's still survival.

I would like it to be love: Love as the root of all. Spend love foolishly. Love is the benchmark of human capacity. No one deserves the love bestowed on them, it is given by grace.

So I am going to spend a little love on Jean:

Jean's 75 birthday is today. She deserves everyone's love. She has helped us all survive. Lovely woman. Lovely age. Lovely birthday. Have you ever had a Jean biscuit? A Jean cookie? A Jean seam repaired? Jean has cooked, helped, sewn, loved and wrapped folks up in her compassion for as far back as I can remember, probably about 5-ish or so. She made ruffles for dresses, cakes for birthdays, or strawberry waffles if need be. What has Jean done for you?

Jean has picked me up in more ways than the airport. Jean has let me drop my suitcase on her floor. Driven me to the highest road in Colorado just because I wanted to go. She drove me to Holly's, came to my rescue, made ruffles for dresses, listened, flown mercy missions more than once. She has been a family cheerleader, safe harbor, family matriarch and now she does coffee on her Greenleaf porch every morning, rain or shine, at family reunion for her siblings and any one else wandering by.

...And you can drop by her house unannounced, anytime, where she will welcome you, make you feel comfortable, feed you, take care of your kid, your dog, your heartache, your loneliness, your fear, your what ever. Actually Jean is simply quite a wonderful woman who survives with her love, her passion, her compassion intact.

True story.

No love is foolishly spent.
Keep on loving.
The capacity for love is a human benchmark.
No love is actually deserved, it is by grace.

We all benefit from Jean's grace as she survives her life journey her way.