What Are You Wearing?


Laura.....she is like no one else I've ever met. An enigma, a bundle of energy, a bright star. This lady, who wears a perpetual smile, has had an amazing life with challenges and heartbreaks, but still she is the most grateful person I have ever met.

I met her through a golfing buddy. Laura had only golfed a few times but being an incredible athlete who, in college played soccer and softball, out golfed us all. Getting to know her was hard but only because she was so busy connecting to everyone around her that it was difficult to pin her down...like cupping water in ones hands. She is a highly intelligent engineer and was once a CEO of a corporation. Approaching complete strangers, she hugs them, thanks them for whatever it is they might be doing, finds out their names (and remembers it), and wishes them an awesome day. If encountered again, they have become an old friend. My second encounter with her was a Catholic Charity event where I watched her give the aged priest his birthday spanks (she seriously spanked a priest).


How this captivating woman was created is beyond me. She has had some tough stuff. She was a rape victim, beaten within an inch of her life, only to watch the perpetrator receive a slap on the wrist. One of her 4 children has passed (but that is a story I know little about). She was hit by a drunk driver and remained in a coma for 6 weeks. Upon waking, she had to learn to walk and speak again. Her husband at the time used her condition to cheat her and their children out of a large amount of money. She has permanent brain damage, suffers small strokes, has seizures and is in constant pain.

She now spends the bulk of her time with athletes from the Special Olympics, promoting various charities, being a Mom with great boundaries, golfing and watching sports.  This year, after purchasing a home near her aging parents in Colorado, Laura is teaching the visually impaired to ski and acts as a guide.

I love this woman....but she exhausts me. One golf game (which can last 4 hours) and, WOW, I seriously need a nap. Of all her qualities, her ability to live in the moment and be grateful is the one I most aspire to.

It seems to me that so many other things fall into place when the cloak of grateful is spread across your shoulders. Are you wearing yours today?





Comments

  1. Debra She Who SeeksJune 15, 2017 at 12:04 PM

    She sounds like the poster child for resiliency and good attitude!

    ReplyDelete
  2. coffeeontheporchwithmeJune 15, 2017 at 7:16 PM

    What an incredible bundle of energy and determination! Don't you wonder sometimes what the "it" factor is with certain people who seem to have "it"? What made her pick up the pieces and move forward, where someone else would be bitter and use it as an excuse? -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda dJune 16, 2017 at 6:40 AM

      I think her "it" is an unabashedly shamelessness. She never worries how anyone is going to react. We go to a restaurant and wants to meet and talk to the chef. We go to the golf course and she gets to know the janitor. Never once worrying whether she might be rejected or rebuffed. It allows her to shine. I want some.

      Delete

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