Last week, I was honored by receiving the Community Service award for Junior League, recognizing service in the community outside of the League. While I am not writing this to toot my own horn, I get a lot of questions about ‘why’ do I work in the field that I do? I want to tell you a story about why I am compelled to give back to my community, and today this seems relevant to share with you.
Most of those who know me, know about my past….. This isn’t the time or place to fill you in if you don’t know, but feel free to ask any other time, I talk about it openly.
Anyhow, over the course of my lifetime, I have experienced terrible things and I have witnessed and heard things that would make even the most optimistic person question if there was any good left on this earth. The first fourteen years of my life, as a collective memory, just seems very dark, with the exception of one—- an encounter with my Aunt Josephine.
I can clearly remember looking up at her during a family get together and her bright smile seemed to immediately lift the darkness away. When I looked up at her, she handed me this enameled daisy chain bracelet. It seems, as a memory, as if she were an angel looking down on me. This was the first and the last time I ever encountered Josephine.
I held on to that bracelet for a long time, and unfortunately lost it in one of our many moves. Many of you know I am a sucker for vintage stores, and now you know why– I am on the constant search for this daisy bracelet.
I think back to that night often, and I know clearly, that this was a defining and pivotal moment in my life.
A few months ago, Aunt Josephine died and I was immediately overwhelmed with an unexpected regret that I was unable to thank her for giving me faith that there is good in this world, even when you have to search hard to see it.
She is one of the reasons that I give back– to know that one day, there might be a little girl, searching in earnest for a sliver of good in her world, and hopefully some small gesture of mine will give her that and she will in turn do the same thing for others. Josephine gave me that hope and I hope I unknowingly, yet conscientiously do the same for others.
The night before the awards lunch, I was meeting my husband for dinner and needed to kill time before he got there. I walked over to Anthropologie and started looking around and casually asked the lady working there if she had a daisy bracelet. She said no, but she did have this daisy skirt. The skirt is much busier than anything I would have normally worn, but I took it as a sign and wore it as a tribute to Josephine at the luncheon.
Here is what I think I am trying to say here: recognize where you came from–the good and the bad, how you deal with it will form your character. Thank the people who got you to where you are and where you are going, make amends and forgive those that have wronged you, because you are the one losing sleep, not them. Know that small gestures have the ability to change the course of someone’s life, without you even knowing it, so be aware of everything that you do and put into the universe. Be hopeful that there is good in this very evil world. If anything, there is always good in a daisy.