Encourage Each Other

My life is very much made up of juggling no less than a dozen projects at any one time. I like it that way, because then I don't get bored!

(Side note: this was one of my favorite things about my producer job at WBCL. Every day had no less than a dozen different tasks in it, so every moment felt fresh and new!)

One of the projects I'm working on right now (slowly) involves cataloging and archiving old blog posts. I'm currently working in the oldest of the posts, and it has been quite eye-opening for me to travel back to Bekah of over a decade ago.

Back then I was single and in desperate need of non-feline outlets for communication. This blog became that for me. My readership was small - probably smaller than I even knew, actually - but I wrote to my readers as though they sat across from me in my living room. I processed my thoughts, declared my opinions on American Idol episodes, and checked in with the happenings of my days.

I remember so much of it in living color. As soon as I start to read the stories, I remember when they took place. I remember the emotions, even if I didn't document them all.

Most of it.

But every now and then, I happen upon a moment I'd forgotten. And those are the moments I'm especially glad I blogged about, because these are the treasures of life that would completely escape me if not for my careful documentation.

One such moment inspired today's post.

It took place when I was on the cusp of turning 29 (for real, not for the third time) and immediately after the great tornado that obliterated my sister's home and town. I was sort of in a fragile emotional place at that time, even beyond the general mess of a single-and-losing-hope girl that I was on a good day.

This particular day, I'd gone to the BMV to renew my license, and it required a new photo. I was particularly fond of the old photo and was sad to see it go, and the new photo was, in a word, awful. (And that was before they took away smiling normally and leaving bangs where they should be!)

Something about that bad license pictures utterly unraveled my day. I returned to my job in Financial Aid and locked myself in my office, hoping I wouldn't have to see anyone for the rest of the day.

According to my post, our secretary came back to tell me someone was at the front asking for me, but she didn't know who the lady was.

That walk from my office to the front was a complete gamble. Working in Financial Aid meant you were mostly loved or hated by your students and their parents. And since you worked with money, your chances of being hated outweighed your chances of being loved most of the time. That day I didn't have it in me to handle an angry parent. I just didn't.

When I arrived at the front desk, I found a mother (and though I didn't name her in the post - for obvious privacy reasons - I do still remember her!) whose two daughters had been part of my caseload for five years. That mother was a delight of a human being at all times. Money stressed her out just like it stressed out everyone else, but she had found a way to be loving and polite, even when terrified. And in a beautiful twist of life, her two daughters were shaping up to be just like her. The whole family was always a welcome sight.

And that day, that mother stood in our lobby with a vase of flowers just for me. Verbal thank-you offerings were rare enough. I'd never gotten flowers. After passing the flowers over to me, she produced a book, a candle, and a card. No particular reason. Just because.

In my original post, I wrote, "I told her this could not have come at a more perfect time and hugged her so tightly she probably lost all her air. The secretary had already told her I was having a bad day, and this mom looked me straight in the eye and said, I don't know what you think you've done wrong today, but for my family, you've done five years of right."

I went on to write, "If I could have framed her words, I would have."

I've written about the importance of encouraging others before, but I don't think any of us can ever say it enough, so I'm writing about it again today. What if we looked around us and found someone whose day is falling apart, and we offered a gesture to let them know they've done a good thing by being part of our lives?

Maybe it means offering a gift. Maybe it just means offering frame-worthy words. Words can mean so much. I know it, and I know you do too.

Let's make this a day of bringing beauty to at least one other person around us! Let's make sure someone knows that we are better because of their presence.

Go! Encourage!