8-29-13 RMB Little Guy

8-29-13 RMB Little Guy

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

On Thursday’s after work I take my sister to a meeting at the church which the boys attend on Sundays. The boys and I go to a park nearby and they play while I walk. Beforehand we normally grab a bite to eat at one of the many fast food establishments.

I am going through a phase of carrying a small purse-like contraption on a long string, it would qualify as a wallet, except it has that string. Before this I carried stuff in my pockets, like my ID and money. But as I lose weight my pockets, along with my pants, are now smaller, there is not enough room. Enter what I affectionately refer to as my “little guy”.

Part of the reason I have carried things in my pockets most of my life, is because I tend to be forget my purse or little guy, or whatever I am carrying and leave them various places. Fortunately I have not lost a child this way…yet, and my head is attached, although not always in top working condition, so there is no danger of leaving that, but if it wasn’t attached…

Anyway, tonight I dropped off the boys at their home and brought the sister home, only realize my little guy was nowhere to be found. I cursed myself, sure that I had left it at the burger joint. I returned to the restaurant and found that, yes indeed my little guy had been running amuck there. The counter girl remembered the boys and me. She brought it out as soon as she saw me walk in.

Thank goodness for the kindness of others. I have had things returned to me in various ways, through a stranger’s kindness.

I search for the lesson I am supposed to learn here. As I struggle with anger towards myself for being forgetful, I wonder if the lesson is kindness to myself. I have a temper and tend to be hardest on myself with it, something I find common among we humans.

A song written and sung by Helen Reddy in the seventies plays in my mind often, Best Friend. She sang it in the movie Airport 1975. It is about taking care of yourself, realizing you are your own best friend. I recall hearing it as a child, memorizing it and mentally singing it as I walked to school.

I am sure it helped me some with my own struggles, but it also caused me to consider hers. What conflict must she have endured to have searched out solace and written such words?

I have always been a big fan of hers. A couple of years ago I read her biography The Woman I Am. I like her mystical side. Not sure I follow every thread of it, but it intrigued me. Much of the things I wondered about were clarified, her struggles, her joys and her losses. I am thankful to her for sharing her story. In the grand scheme of things, hearing it from the woman that brought us I Am Woman, it is important. History will remember her and it is good to have her own words added to the mix. She is brave, for living the life she lived, for sharing her insights, for thinking outside the box.

She sang “Would you take better care of yourself? Would you be kinder to yourself…if you realized that your best friend is yourself? Who is always with you everywhere? Who is on your side when others are unfair?”

I’ll try,

Loraine