Turns out Memory Lane feels, at least in this moment, unpaved, full of potholes, with steep hills, and slick with ice.
Okay, not literal ice, but memory lane is usually not an entirely literal place! Here’s how the trip started.
On Friday, a friend asked for help and I was catapulted, in my mind, back to just this time, in 1980.
I was a young, single mom, living in HUD housing and buying groceries with Food Stamps. I was also a full time nursing student and we were just finishing up a rotation in an extended care facility.
My little guy was 11 months old. I felt blessed that he didn’t know we were poor. His Christmas gift that year was a plastic steering wheel from the dollar store made to hook on his car seat. He was thrilled. I felt like Scrooge, especially when I disconnected the horn on his steering wheel!
Fast forward to now. We’re all good, though very sad about Covid and virtual holidays. I’m not sure what we’ll be sending the girls just yet, though a beeping steering wheel probably won’t make the list! (Much to my dismay, one of them is not that far from an interest in real steering wheels!)
In my email, there was a response to a message I’d sent out to a small list of folks interested in my art workshops. You know… Coming soon! Make Your Own Miracles! It was from my friend who needs help and was brave enough to reach out.
Here’s the thing. The workshop works. But in works in its own way and time, deep inside us, before it busts out into the world, feeling like it’s always been true.
And, for some of us, there are some real challenges along the way.
Frankly, the rabid political ads on TV don’t feel all that helpful, though it won’t be a big surprise that I’m with the guys on the side of actual helping.
So, from the been there, done that crowd, I’ll be sending you a second email today with an option for how you might help my friend recover from surgery and an injury, avoid eviction, and get – literally – back on her feet, all while getting a gift for yourself, if you want to.
No pressure. Just an unexpected chance to fulfill whatever elf fantasies you might be harboring.
I will tell you that the original special email went out to a list of folks on the “first to know” list for upcoming opportunities to go miracle hunting with me. If you’d like to be on that list, please click on the handy link you’ll find in the email and you’ll be added! And I promise that the vast majority of emails won’t be requests like this one.
It’s just that I didn’t know how else to try to help my friend.
And please know that, in this season of hope and blessings, I’m giving thanks for you!
ps… the artwork is from my Codex painting, The Co-Creative Soul, reminding me that we are connected, by a legendary red thread, to those who will matter in our lives. More thanks for you!
Sue your messages always have an impact. I too was asked for help of a different kind. An alchoholic friend of mine wants to quit drinking before the holidays. Yay! Such a hard request for help when all I can do is call every day to say hello. The rest is up to her. The call is easy the quitting is very hard. Thank you for listening.
Calling every day is a huge thing, Bettina. Yes, your friend has the hard work but knowing you are standing with her will be a precious gift. Thank you for reading and sharing. I’ll remember both of you in my prayers.
ps… Bettina, you’ve probably thought of this but it wouldn’t hurt to have contact information for an AA hotline or local group by your phone, just in case she wants it. Blessings!