Every month or so, my mom & I go out to splurge on our favorite thing to do together – we get a pedicure! As we sat waiting for our freshly painted toes to dry, I did my usual thing – made some jewelry, and my mom next to me was playing a brain game on her cell phone. The lady sitting in front of us seemed sad, I could see it in her eyes, and all I wanted to do was hug her and let her know that whatever she was going through was just a stepping stone. She ended up talking to me – noticing my jewelry that I was working on. She asked me how long I had working with jewelry and I told her – about fifteen years. As I talked to the nice woman, I told her a little more about me, about having cancer and experiencing life. She in turn looked at me and told me her sad story, a tragedy had hit her when her sister was killed recently, and she was still grieving. I was so saddened to hear her story, about her immense loss and about her new found kids (her sister’s children) that she was caring for. In an instant her life had changed drastically, she went from being retired to working again to support her new family. I understood a part of what she was experiencing – the loss of a family member. We continued talking and she told me about her other sister who was battling brain cancer. Her sister was having a hard time going through the radiation and I understood, because I too had been there with the heavy radiation treatments. I offered my ear, and my shoulder to the woman, I gave her hope and inspiration. The tools and gifts that I know God has supplied me with to help those in need. As we talked, I made a little key-chain – a wire woman with boobs and stilettos and a hope ribbon – one of my signature creations and handed it to my new friend. I told her that anytime she needed someone to talk to, she could call me, she could talk to me about anything – cancer, etc and I would be there to help in any way that I could.
I spoke to a friend of my aunts recently, a man who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s b-cell lymphoma, and was going through the same things I was experiencing when I was first diagnosed with cancer. He really needed to talk to someone who had been there, gone through the treatments, I understood the side effects – chemo brain mainly and the life changes. I provided him with the tools he needed, the links to numerous support groups online, support groups in his city, all online forums and networking sites, where he could meet others who were going through or had gone through the same thing as he was. Even though I had gone through a different type of cancer, and some very different treatments, I helped him and provided him with the tools and information that he needed to get through it. I know that he appreciated it, and ended up passing on the information I had given him to his nephew in
This is my way of paying it forward, by helping people any way I can and not expecting anything in return. Just helping someone is its own reward. I know that I not only brought some hope to that woman, but I brought her inspiration and the realization that she’s not alone. Even a stranger can bring a new thought or provide you with the inspiration that you may need to get by. My mom was really impatient as we waited in the salon, and just wanted to be able to go, but she was stuck because I had driven us there. After we left the salon, I turned to mom and said. We were there longer than expected, but there was a reason. We were meant to meet that woman, to share stories and to give her the inspiration that she needed, the hope she wanted and the strength and ability to overcome her obstacles. I looked at mom and said “It’s a God thing. God wanted us to cross paths.” It was a God thing, if we had left minutes earlier, we never would have met that woman, and we never would have been able to help her. The important things to keep in mind are: 1) Our lives can change, even drastically in a moment and we need to realize that we have a choice – to embrace the change and help & inspire others, or just move on with life as we knew it. And 2) If you are given a second chance at life, after a diagnosis, whether it be cancer, becoming a quadriplegic or anything else that alters your life, you MUST pay it forward. Help someone in anyway you can. Improve your life as you once knew it and help others, cook dinner for a homeless person, provide someone in need with information they need, give a neighboring kid a summertime job to help him/her pay for college, etc. Whatever you decide to do to pay it forward, don’t think about what you can get out of it. Happiness and gratefulness is enough.
I pay it forward in many ways, more ways than spreading hope and inspiration to those I meet. I try to bring a smile to at least one person’s face a day, somehow, someway. Even the little things we do can impact peoples' lives - like the homeless man I see near my house, I always bring Tom a little something to eat when I can, because I know he appreciates that so much. :) I dance in my car and sing out loud with my friends staring at me and laughing in my car, I make various presents for the wonderful people at the City of Hope, I speak for events and at local schools to get the word out there- That there is always hope, there is always a way to overcome obstacles and the people we loose in our lives leave a footprint on our hearts and in our minds. We always have their memories, and most of them leave an impact – no matter how big or small in our lives. This is what makes these people truly memorable, and this is what makes life worth living!
No comments:
Post a Comment