I never thought I’d be titling a post after a KC and the Sunshine Band song. Then again, I never thought I’d be a Formerly who has so little time that she showers only when she absolutely has to, either, so there you go.
My friend B.–despite having lived perhaps 14 lives in her 42ish years, most of them filled with ample, potentially soul-crushing evidence of the essential baseness of humankind–has nonetheless emerged the most relentlessly sunny person I have ever met. And not the kind that you suspect has had a lobotomy or simply chosen to ignore the bad for the sake of survival. She is truly in it. She has coffee and maybe a cigarette with her dark side, says goodbye, and then sends me quotes like these:
“Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty – they merely move it from their faces to their hearts.” – Martin Buxbaum
Thank you, B. And keep it coming, love.
June 4, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I don’t even know what to say, except WOW, and thank you so very much! My heart is racing. My face is hot and streaming with tears. I am just overcome with emotion and filled with graceful and humble gratitude.
Irony, as it is…never ceases to be ironic, and on this day there is no exception. As I signed on today, I said, hmmm, time to change my FB quote so, I opned my MS Word file that is filled with hundreds and hundreds of quotes that I have saved over time and for whatever reason Gladys Brown Stern’s quote just resonated, “Silent gratitude isn’t much good to anyone.” Then, just minutes later, I received your note and the link to this….Yes, I have learned in life the hard way, that doing and saying what is right and true comes with no guarantees, however, not doing or not saying by no means eradicates nor dimishes the immuteable truth of someone or something.
Heck, what this very tongue twisted, garrolous “Formerly” is trying to spit out is, well, two things: a) I remember someone once saying, when you pass someone on the street, smile at them. If you receive one back, Bravo! If not, don’t be discouraged, it was that person who probably needed your smile the most. That really stuck with me because I know how many times I have been the one who really, really hoped and needed for someone to smile at me. Even though sometimes I feel so foolish, I practice that very thing allllll the time because I want someone who may have felt how I have felt to know that there is still some good in humanity and b) because I have known much pain in my life, as Steph knows and mentions, I seriously believe that one of the only things we can do is to take those experiences and use them in a way that makes the world better place.
With allll that in mind, I try my best, and then hope for the best. I have to say that I am blessed by the truly wonderful people in my life who seriously keep me going even when I think I am all alone, I am not. Even when I think, I can’t, I get that smile. Even when I think no one will notice, nor care, there is a friend or another saying something so beautiful or smiling, or helping or doing their part, in spite of their own personal plights, hardships and the crosses they bear, sharing and giving of themselves to me, and the rest of the world too. Stephanie is always one of those people.
I knew that the Gladys Stern Brown quote resonated with me today for some reason. Except instead of me trying to live up to her words of wisdom, it is the ever beautiful Stephanie who made those words a living reality. For that, I will never be able to explain how much that meant to me and how you have touched my soul. Thank you, my friend.