Believe it or not, I had some of the most wonderful encounters today with a number of clients and customers who helped create for me a cornucopia of wonderful thoughts and stories of the happenings in their lives. I received a call early this morning from an elderly client who lives in the Sunbelt during the winter months. As we all grow older, we find the little annoyances of the body being older and a bit more demanding of attention. She’s dealing with a few more health problems with the weights of time, but she still has her mind as well as a youthful outlook on life. She laughed and said she recently received a letter from her older sister who lives in the area, and one of her sister’s comments was, “I’m really beginning to like living alone.” I replied, “Looks like she’s another example of a merry widow.” Finding widows like these must have given Franz Lehar the inspiration to compose The Merry Widow Waltz. I admire people who can make the best of their life transitions.
I ran into a gentleman whom I haven’t seen for at least 15 years while running errands. He and his wife purchased a very nice home in one of our sought after districts and I’m not surprised they’re still there. I knew he was a man of great ability at the time and was certainly delighted to find that he continued to work at moving up in the world. Being soft spoken and a bit shy can still take you places when you’ve time, and time again proven your abilities. It’s refreshing to see that good work still gets noticed.
During the mid-afternoon, I had a stop to make and while there, encountered yet another great mind whom I chide myself for not communicating with more often. She’s likely one of the most soulful people I’ve known. Never an unkind word, never down, never dark, and never judgmental. I keep telling her she’s one of those half angels who quietly walk the earth spreading love, hope, and forgiveness. Her message for me today was, “We all need to quieten our lives down so that we can hear what’s really going on both inside and out.” It wasn’t hard for me to agree in knowing how many people I’ve known who seem to insist on being plugged into something nearly all the time. It’s becoming more the practice with people to leave their televisions on in their bedrooms while they sleep. Perhaps the merry widows are finding more quiet time to get back to knowing, as well as nurturing themselves, so they may become more soulfully whole.
Standing in the lobby of a corporate office speaking to several employees, I couldn’t help myself by asking, “Do you travel to and from work the same way each day?” After a moment’s thought, they both said they did. I challenged them to take different routes each day, even if it takes more time and extra gas. I said, “We really don’t know the real landscape of our city if we don’t pay attention to it.” People become blind to happenings in our city simply because they are out of sight. By doing this, we have the opportunity to praise as well as criticize things that are beneficial as well as adverse to our over-all growth. If more long-way-round journeys are taken within our communities, I’m certain concerned citizens will awaken and become more pro-active in creating good and lasting changes. Challenge yourselves and take the long way home. Please enjoy as I did, this timeless video of The Merry Widow Waltz.
