Best Day(s) of My Life

I didn’t realize what I wanted to do in life until yesterday, yet I have been eating the breadcrumbs for ten days. Instead of crumbs now, I have started to take bites.

Yesterday, I talked about being on a train. Yesterday I started sharing a book with others, because I thought it contained the answer to their problems. But as irony has conveniently fallen into place in the past, as it is now, it was also a book I needed to read.

I wonder if, if any time we give someone else a piece of advice we follow it too?

I am starting to believe that every single person placed in our lives can teach us something through reflection.

This mirror of sorts can be one of the greatest gifts life gives us if only our eyes are open and we can see.

I am sitting here with these words pouring out of me. I am struggling to get dressed, which proceeds my morning routine. I have one shoe left to put on and two laces to lace.

But realizations and dreams don’t happen or become true at the exact moment you want them to.

You have to be receptive to all of the great gifts in life.

Yesterday, I learned a lesson. (If I am being honest with myself, I probably learned one for each person I faced.) This lesson came at the foot of everything from the last ten days, culminating in a pot stirred by the right people.

Yesterday, I let Juliette stay home from school. This is my beautiful little mini-me, who happens to be 10-years-old, and I foresee being more insightful than myself. Lincoln too. I came home to both of them being wiser than I left. Especially Lincoln.

Lincoln observed my husband helping a stranger in the grocery store parking lot and then asked why. He couldn’t comprehend why we would help someone we didn’t know.

You see, Lincoln is homeschooled, so he gets to make many observations that other children do not have the luxury of seeing.

Well, my husband replied as to why we might help a stranger. I wasn’t there, but it was about being kind and helpful, doing what is right, and being a good person.

From that moment on, we saw a change in him. It was like something clicked. He went from being a little boy to growing up. Lincoln is eight years old—pretty close to eight and a half.

So this day I spent with Juliette, which yes, was yesterday, as I was having my first conversation with a colleague, the thought came to me: what a great gift I am giving her.

She is getting to see me do my thing. And at that moment, that thing was listening and helping. The woman I was speaking to had no apparent problems. She is beautiful, intelligent, and whole. But somehow, I was helping her. I was helping her see areas of her life where she might want to expand or extract.

Then she saw me have my second conversation with another woman who has a lot of room for growth and change in her life. We love this woman, although we have only known her for two days. She is fresh off of a divorce/separation and stuck in a situation where she felt paralyzed as to what direction to take in her career.

The conversation was beautiful; beyond beautiful. I got to serve her. I got to be everything I want to be in life. I got to help her.

This person will always be someone I treasure. It also happens to be the person I am hiring to be my #2 in the real estate world to serve those there and beyond.

When we returned to the car, Juliette asked me who I liked. She didn’t quite understand why I was talking to them, and to be honest, the conversations served as interviews to find out if and how these women fit into my future on my team.

I sat there and pondered, as I have been doing lately when in conversation with this newly thought-provoking ten-year-old daughter of mine.

I didn’t have an answer. I said we like them both. They are different people. They are both in various stages of their life. (They would both fill a completely different role — a role where overlap was impossible.)

We continued to talk as we headed to the first woman’s place of work. We had met her at a coffee shop earlier in the day (having a revelation about community and coffee shops concerning my childhood dreams right now… need to save this thought… yet I wait in the dark… not in front of my notebook) but after our conversation I wanted to go to the book store to buy her a book. Juliette and I did that upon leaving, but we didn’t have enough time to drop it off. So that way, we headed.

We met, we hugged, and I gave her the gift with a note inside. It felt like I was pushing a duckling into the world. (I am editing this weeks later, and I see myself more as the flashlight holder for the path she was predestined to walk upon.) I know if she reads this book, it will change her life.

The drive home was about 25 minutes. Juliette and I listened to music. I held her hand, stroked her hair, and looked at her with intention. She had some of the deepest thoughts.

I found myself in the middle of the day thinking, wow, what a gift I am giving Juliette. I made her feel so special. I let her stay home from school. She is seeing me be me, and she is seeing me contribute to the world positively. While I am sure she gained a lot from the day, at that moment, which happened to be hundreds of feet in the air, as I stroked her hair away from her face, a lot of things dawned on me. Children and people want to feel special. We were born into this world being the most special gift, and as time passes, the people around us stop communicating how special we are. So we start feeling less and less special as each week and month and year passes.

It compounds.

It affects us.

I went into the day thinking it was happiness we all seek.

But I came out of knowing so much more than that.

So, while I thought I was changing my daughter’s life, she was changing mine.

Every single moment of that day was a stepping stone to now.

The day continued in greatness.

Juliette had a musical production that evening, and I had randomly volunteered to be in the cast’s room, where they made all of their costume changes during the play.

Talk about an intense room to be in.

I didn’t expect anything I received in that room.

As the children prepared for the play, there were eight or so adults helping them, but as the play began and everyone took their positions, including the adults, I started out in this room alone. Not only alone but in the dark.

Everyone has their place, and it was not with me.

But as the play progressed, aka as the first song ended, one could after another entered the room. Some are cool, calm, and collected, but most are panicky and overwhelmed.

I am getting goosebumps, reliving what most would call a mundane experience.

These children, in that moment, needed me. The words they needed to hear started flowing out of my mouth. Their emotions and feelings, I drew away from them.

Although they might tell you otherwise, the evening went off without a hitch.

But I got to serve my purpose and let these children change my lives more than I changed theirs.

And isn’t that the purpose of life?

To help others more than we help ourselves.

When my husband and I met, I asked him if there was anything he could change about me. And he wisely sat there before telling me one thing. He said he wished I weren’t so selfless.

He didn’t like the way I gave the children all of me. But that is who I am.

I don’t think we should interfere with manipulating people into being who they are meant to be.

I don’t tell that story to stand on a mountain above others. I say to that story and the ones above to make an impression on you.

An impression that changes your life, which will, indeed, change mine.

I will leave you with one more thing…

People aren’t just a part of our stories; we are a part of theirs. What an honor this is. And more importantly, holy crap, this is something we have been so trusted with, and we cannot, under any circumstances, mess it up.

Thank you for letting me serve you.

With love, Jo

P.S. Sorry for any typos. I never made it to my computer, and I think I will take a quick walk while the kids shower and prepare for school. I am still sitting here with one shoe on and one off.

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