SOME CAME KNOCKING

Blissed out over the past few days, rereading Still Here, by Ram Dass.   My first reading was soon after its 2000 publication.  Mom & I read it together.  A blessing & a blissing, reading it in tandem - we read it on our own, Mom doing most of her reading during the day, while I was at work, with me taking the evening shift.  Every couple days, we'd connect over a cuppa for a good gab about what we'd read, or we'd be so moved by a particular part that we'd share it immediately with the other.  Even at the time, it was clear that having such a remarkable opportunity was a singular grace.  Reading it again is an equally - yet different - wondrous experience, reflecting over & over the awe-inspiring nature of Mom's eldering journey.

Things happened to Mom that were waaaay outside the norm.  In Chapter 5, Shifting Roles, Ram Dass notes that "most elders don't know, themselves, what it is they have to offer.  And remember that young people won't be coming to our doors saying, 'Hey, old folks, you've got something we want. We need your wisdom & perspective.'"

In Mom's case, they did!  Younger people DID let her know that she had something they valued, that they craved her wisdom & perspective. 

How cool is that? 

Mom sort of stumbled into writing her Mindwalker1910 e-mail postings.  Blogging hadn't taken off yet, but over about an 19-month period ~ Feb 2000-Sept 2001 ~ she shared her memories, thoughts & commentaries with an ever-widening circle of e-mail friends.  She got into it through being part of two very different - in fact, diametrically opposite - online discussion groups.  That participation got her feet wet, but she was still writing under MY e-mail address.  It was a heated discussion with my far-away sister-in-law that made her want her own online identity.  And it grew from that into something very special.

She DID have people - all over the globe - telling her how important what she wrote was to them.  Through their comments, shared & private, Mom came to be aware of her "elder-gifts," something she'd resisted (as do most older people in our culture) for years.  Today, people still share with me how something she wrote over a dozen years ago continues to touch their lives. 

It was NOT easy convincing Mom that what she had to say, her life experience, her perspective of the world - her SELF - had value.  I'd tried for years to make her see the value of what she had to offer & she resisted resisted resisted.  Easier to believe others who diminished the gifts she had to offer.  By myself, I never could have.  What a blessing for her & countless others that some came knocking, letting her know, loud & clear, that they needed her unique wisdom & perspective. 

If realizing that doesn't bliss me out, what could?!?!