She was a passionate, brave, strong, creative, spunky woman and I loved her dearly. So much of who I am is because of her. But, even more than that, so much of who I want to be is because of her. Over the past few days I have been meditating on what I need to do to heal. Today my plan started to come together....
Piece #1
Everyday, for the last 18 months of her life, my grandma sent an email to 3
3 of her closest friends and family. The subjects of the emails included the details of her exercise class, the life history of her hairdresser, and the score of the Twins' game the night before. Typically, the emails were accompanied by a few photos of things that had caught her eye - flowers, birds, a family fishing at the park, the art hanging on her neighbors' walls. She chose to find joy everywhere and she shared that joy with us every morning. Piece #2
My uncle once said that, for my grandmother, the world was “full of friends she just hadn’t met yet.” She loved talking to people, learning their stories, and finding a connection. Piece #3
Grandma believed variety truly was the spice of life. She had this Oscar Wilde quote posted in two places around her apartment - "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative." She was always exploring, always learning, always trying something new. So, here's the plan.
1) I'm going to get out of my comfort zone;
2) I'm going to talk to strangers everywhere I go. I'm going to view everyone as a friend in the making. Once a day I'm going to briefly interview one of my new friends (think Humans of New York meets Inside the Actor's Studio); and
3) I'm going to post the interview on this page. So, how about it? Won't you be my neighbor?
