We all need a little patience

When Helena arrived home for the funeral of her cousin, Edi Lara, Jr* who died unexpectedly at the age of 26, she asked what I planned to wear to the service. 

 

Helena arrived home on Wednesday and the service was on Friday.  Her clothes are packed away for the summer and her outfit question was valid. Even Edi’s sister needed to go shopping since she arrived in sweats, coming from Maryland.  My response was, “That’s 2 days away.  I am strictly one day at a time these days.”  I mean, how do you plan when things change on a daily basis?  

 

You certainly don’t plan an untimely death of an amazing 26 yr old family member or friend.  You don’t plan for your parent to be diagnosed with cancer (just so you know I’m not referring to my mom but it’s still horrible).  You definitely don’t plan for your own diagnosis (again, someone I know.  Not myself.  But again, it’s horrible).  I did not plan for a pandemic.  I didn’t plan riots or tropical storms. 

 

I’m not going to ask “what’s next” or “what else” because I don’t want to know.  Can't we all use a little patience (for real, click the youtube link!).  I guess that's the skill I'm learning through this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErvgV4P6Fzc

Ok, so maybe the song doesn't completely match the patience I am learning but I love this song. 

*We are deeply saddened about the loss of a great guy.   I really don’t think I ever heard a negative word about Edi.  I only met his dad’s side of the family on a few occasions so I would forget that we weren’t his only family and would invite him for holidays and Saints games.  When he declined, he was always respectful and it was usually because he was going to his (paternal) Grandma’s house.  I also know he’d stop by and call his (maternal grandma) MawMaw to check in.  He was raised right and it’s tragic that he’s gone. 

Should I Pinch Myself?

I was invited to attend the recording and filming of a bunch of local artists coming together to record their version of Purple Reign by Prince.  The recording is for the You Night 2020 Purple Reign - Let Love Reign virtual runway show.  When you are forced to pivot and you do it with open eyes, open heart and open mind the possibilities are endless. 

Whoa.  Wow.  Should I pinch myself?  I felt like I was watching the filming of “We Are The World.”  OMG I didn't know I could have goosebumps for 3 hours straight and I still have them!  It was so powerful to hear them sing the chorus the first time, and every time after.  To see musicians work together - and sing their hearts out - amazing.  

Dalila Seruntine (singing) with Groovy 7 put this whole thing together

Music brings us together.  I wonder if they realize the impact they have on the world.  I remember meeting Walter 'Wolfman' Washington and telling him that he's famous and he laughed and said "Oh I don’t know about that!" All of the artists had that same air about them last night.  I don't think they knew exactly why they were meeting and maybe didn't fully understand, even after we explained, but they showed up ready to sing.  And when we told them the song was going to be used for a cancer survivor runway show, we became the stars. 

Kindness Matters

Every morning since the beginning of September I've written down at least 5 things I'm grateful for.  By starting the day reflecting on the good things from the day before I've become more intentional about looking for things to be grateful for. Yesterday I read a post on Facebook with pictures of random acts of kindness and it got me thinking, not only should I be looking for things to be grateful for but I should be looking for things that I can do for others, giving them something to be grateful for. 

 

It’s hard to come up with things that I've done recently because I haven’t been out in public much but here are a couple of things I've done in the past:

 

• I've made a few trips to Starbucks over the past 3 months.  Knowing my mom likes her Tall 1 shot Americano's but hasn't been going to Starbucks, I picked her up coffees even though she didn't ask (#1 daughter!)

 

• We always drive the same route to Jazz Fest and one day I decided to bring breakfast for the guys standing at the corner.  Among other things Jazz Fest related, I missed the opportunity to do this in 2020.

 

• Micah eats his breakfast in the car on the way to school.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, he doesn’t eat it. I started giving it to a man on a corner.  Now when Micah doesn’t want to eat his food he tells me to give it to a homeless man.  Kind of back fires on me because he’s not eating but totally worth it to give something away.  And I love that Micah thinks of it.

 

 

Here are some ideas of things to be grateful for and things you can do to make someone else's day better:

 

• Let someone in front of you  while driving
• Hold the door for someone
• Take someone's cart from the parking lot to the door as you're walking in (it drives me crazy that I can't do this right now! But I don't want cooties!)
• Pay for the order of the person behind you in line (if you have the funds!)
• Pick up something that someone has dropped (again, cooties…  be careful)
• Say hi! 
• Compliment a stranger

 

 

 

I know, there is a TON of bad, negative, sad stuff going on right now but what I’d love to do is add to this list with our own acts of kindness.  Please share what you've done and give us ideas of what we can all do!

Check out these Random Acts of Kindness

I'm still learning

I don't understand why some people think the color of someone's skin makes them better, or worse, than the other.  To try and understand what exactly racism is, why racism exists and what to do about it, I reached out to some friends for some reading suggestions.  I need to learn and grow.  I need some history. I think I failed to pay attention to anything other than boys when I was in high school and if my dad were here, I'm sure he'd agree.  One thing I know is, it is never to late to learn.

My plan is to do my best to learn, to understand and to support.  I'd like to say that my circle is well rounded.  I'd say I have a decent amount of black friends. I think I respect everyone.  I dislike racist words and behaviors.  But I don't think that's enough.    At this point, I'm not sure how to show my support but I intend to find out.

I plan to watch I Am Not Your Negro

Book recommendations from friends:

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Race Matters by Cornell West

The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. Dubois

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

White Fragility by Robin J DiAngelo

If you dislike this post, I think it's safe to say you can definitely not comment and absolutely feel free to unfollow me.  

I saw this beautiful flower on my walk today and thought you needed to see it too.