Enlightened Purr...spective A Community of Love

Enlightened Purrs…pective
A community of love…
Have you ever experienced this? Have you ever found yourself amongst friends and felt so secure, so wrapped in comfort, so peaceful, so happy, so blessed and oh so very loved? I pray that you have and I believe if you are reading this I know you have because you are a friend of mine, I’ve worked alongside of you, you may be a member of my family or a member of my church. I have a number of loving communities surrounding me every day, but yesterday and this evening I experienced the greatest forms of a love and compassion.
I’ve lived in the Dearborn area most of my adult life. I belong to The Church of The Divine Child where I am a Eucharistic Minister, Lector and recently joined the Usher’s Club. My children have gone to school at Divine Child from first grade on with my oldest daughter Chelsea graduating. After my divorce, my twins and I moved only thirty seven homes away from the church/school. This is my community of faith. I belong, I’m peaceful, I’m comfortable and I am loved.
This afternoon, two young men were in a fatal automobile accident on their way to take photos of the Senior Cheerleaders for their yearbook.
Paul, a college Senior and a recent graduate from Divine Child and Wayne, a Divine Child Senior.
20 years old and 17 years old.
These two very talented, loved, adored and respected young men lost their lives today.
News went out via High School email, texting, Facebook, twitter and by phone, believe it or not!
A prayer service had been announced for 7:00pm.
I live on the street where my church stands and I watched the cars drive by and park on all the surrounding corners. I watched the kids walking down the sidewalk with their parents as I myself traveled.
Silence!
Every pew was filled with members of the parish, high school students, family and friends. Sobs, tears, silence and question filled the air. Even though there was great sadness and loss, there was love surrounding every one present. People came, not to even say anything to the families, but to let them know their community was here for them holding them in their arms of love.
It’s amazing to me, that when there may be sadness there is also a balance of joy and hope.
Yesterday, I experienced the promise and dedication of marriage as my longtime friend and colleague joined hands with the love of his life.
Jake Larson, my adored Shaw sales rep. married Erin at a most lovely ceremony at the precious and spiritual Church along the shore of Orchard Lake. Again, the community of faithful friends and family witnessed and shared in one of the greatest days of a man and woman’s life. Together we danced, dined, shared and heard stories of the past and the memories to be made. Happiness was abundant. The bride and groom were strategically placed in the middle of the room with all the tables surrounding them with a community of love.
Applause!
Communities join together for support, for faith, to share the joys and sorrow, to be silent, to applaud, to hold in the palm of their hands, to guide, to walk alongside, to cry for and with, to teach, to learn, to carry, to be carried.
You and I my friend are blessed.
And when you feel that life just can’t go on, or when you have something you want to share and are so overjoyed about, when you feel loss or confusion or when you don’t feel there is no one listening… you will be surprised at just how very blessed you and I are.
Your community will be there for you.
They will surprise you.
Just open your eyes or answer the phone or email.

“I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows.”
“I believe that somewhere in the darkest night, a candle glows.”
“I believe above the storm the smallest prayer will still be heard.”

Keep Climbing!

Enlightened Purrs...pective Please don't Go!

Please don’t go!
There’s a song resonating in my brain tonight. Actually there are three songs, but one remains so evident that it has driven me to awake from my slumber and begin to type away on my laptop.

“Babe, I love you so. I want you to know. At least in my lifetime, I’ve had one dream come true. I was blessed by someone like you….please don’t go! I want you to stay” – KC and the Sunshine Band.

Settle down, I’m not going to share a love story with you. At least not the type you may be thinking of. Like so many songs written, they have special meanings to people or maybe they are interpreted differently depending on the moment.
My moment…
I have a dear friend who I hold close to my heart who has been struggling with cancer for close to seven years now. He was afflicted with a tumor on his brain which began to hinder his driving and depth perception at first. After a number of surgeries and chemo treatments of all types he began to lose strength in his right arm and then his legs. His speech started to alter just a touch but recently the words just don’t seem to find their way to be expressed the way he would wish. He knows the word, he knows the context but something prevents it from being delivered. But he’s so patient. Never lets down his guard. He never shows signs of weakness. He smiles. He jokes around. “I’m ok!” he says with conviction. Where ever his strength and determination comes from is truly an amazing thing! If you think I’m positive, you ain’t seen nothing.
I have tried to “hang out” with him as often as possible. I took a trip one summer with my mother and three children up to Gladwin where he also had a carpet store. Silly guy it should have been a Carpet One store but, non- the- less. He’s forgiven! We’ve gone to a number of Detroit Tiger games, dinners, lunches, visits with him and his mom and an awesome Hardwood Trip to Quebec thanks to one of our Manufacturers. Last week, before my summer convention, we made plans to dine at an elegant and super delicious Italian restaurant for today’s date. When I called just as a reminder I found no one at home. Hmmm… I tried his cell phone and was greeted by a young girl’s voice. Hmmm….
I know where he is.
The hospital.
But as usual, “hey I’m doing ok. Could be worse, I’m sorry I forgot to call you about dinner.” Paul explained. He was having even more difficulty walking and needed to go the hospital. He attempted to explain the circumstances and he made requests for no visitors at this particular moment. He would let me know when it was a good time.

There are some people in our lives that you just wonder, ”why him?” Why does anyone have to suffer from these diseases?
Our time on this gracious planet is so short. We are given moments to cherish. We are blessed with people in our lives. He have moments handed to us that make our hearts skip a beat. We meet someone and in an exact moment and you know this person is so very special “I can’t let you go.” We become selfish. The minutes together aren’t appreciated until their gone and yet those minutes that we share are sometimes the very best that life can grant.

I have a friend who I love from the deepest part of my heart. I don’t believe I ever told him that. But, he knows!

“Please don’t go. Don’t go away! I want you to stay. Cause I need you so. Please don’t go!”

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
- my favorite quote.

I love you Paul.
I always will.

Keep climbing!

Cat

To the ONE who inspires me...

Enlightened Purrs…pective
To the One who inspires me…
As I sit tonight on my bed with my PC on my lap, I reflect on the day’s events. All the people I came in contact with, all the opportunities placed before me, all the lessons I’ve learned, the joy of my children, the blessings of friends, my passions, my loves. How did I ever deserve this? Who brought this all to me?
Earlier this evening, I attended a Relay for Life meeting. As I sat there in my chair, each person expressed their reasons for walking this coming May 22nd for 24 hours.
“I walk for a cure.”
“I walk for my grandmother who just passed away this Tuesday from cancer.”
“I walk so that my children may never have to say I have cancer.”
My turn…
”Three years ago this coming Monday April 26th, my father passed away from lung cancer. Three years ago this coming June 9th we walked our first Relay for Life in his honor. I walk again for the one who inspires me.”
I am often reminded about why I deserve these blessings, the joys, the loves, my passions and opportunities. Not every day, but when I’m supposed too or when the moment is right or when I need a little reminder, I stumble across the most beautiful, tiny, piece of silver. A single solitary insignificant coin smiles at me. My little “dime from heaven”.
When my brother died about 15 years ago, I didn’t understand why I hadn’t dreamt about him. I wanted to but was never granted that wish. Even though I knew he was where he needed to be I just once wanted to feel him there. It wasn’t until someone asked why I had all these coins in a shot glass on my window sill that I understood I had been guarded. For months I had found dimes, not pennies, not nickels, not quarters but dimes in the most obscure places and when they should not have shown up. A woman asked if the coins were all the same and I said yes. She didn’t view them from far away but in the same sentence asked if someone close to me had recently passed and if the coins in the tiny glass were dimes. An immediate yes to both came from my dropped mouth. “Your brother is letting you know he’s there. He’s doing ok. He loves you. It’s the spirit’s way of communicating.”
Now I know you’ll think I’m a little off, and I am sure those who know me well sometimes say that to my face, but hear me out. My mother shared with me that very next day, this most peculiar coincidence. She had also been finding dimes over the past few weeks. I explained to her what I had been told about the dimes and we wept. Twelve years of finding dimes on just cleaned carpets, flower beds while planting the spring’s annuals, in a shoe as I prepared to place on my feet, under a pillow just before slumber, we became content knowing we weren’t alone and love surrounded us always. Then cancer took my dad.
Again I experienced nothing throughout the night, not a glimpse, not a whisper, not a smell, not a cold breeze, no assurance that I would be ok.
Oh how I missed him!
Nothing for five months until the night before my mother and I prepared to go to Venice and cruise the Greek Islands with my dear friends, did I have a dream about my mother’s suit case. My father was angry and told me to get the suitcase from the basement for her to use. “Make sure you bring enough money,” he said. Let me tell you, neither of us are procrastinators. Our suitcases were packed and the dream made no sense. But I could have used a bigger suitcase for my clothes and shoes. Yes, once again, those who know me well know that I am high maintenance and come prepared. Stop laughing! My mother agreed to bring the larger suitcase for souvenirs and remembrances. She offered her suitcase and as I began to unzip the larger, rolling bag a tiny shimmering most radiant silver coin fell to my feet.
“Travel safe my love. Take care of your mother. Here’s some money for you.”
Dimes from heaven!
I am, I have, and I am blessed because of my father. I can’t begin to share with you the love we had for each other. He is my reason. My father’s greatest attribute was his way of making you feel like you were the only person that mattered. That you were his universe at that time you were with him. You would have a friend for life. There would be nothing he wouldn’t do for you. Love poured from every morsel of his body. He used to tell my three brothers and me, we had “the edge”. And he was so right, because when you are loved like we were loved, there was nothing stopping you from succeeding.
To the one who inspires me… I walk for you!
Thank you for the beautiful, shiny, silver pieces of heaven that you surprise me with. I love you!
Keep Climbing!
Cat

Enlightened Purrs...pective LOVE

Enlightened Purrs…pective – What is LOVE?
Have you ever asked yourself “what is love?”
Is it all emotional?
Do people use this word too freely?
Have you ever truly understood the meaning?
I think love has many meanings and many directions that it can take us in our lives. There are different phases of love as well. But, the first thing you think of when you hear the word love is in the passionate sense. An overwhelming feeling of never wanting to be apart, heart skips a beat or two or three, your palms sweat, your attention is focused on the other person and you’re “flying higher than a kite”! You wake up in the morning and see their face and when you lay your head on the pillow before you fall asleep there is that face that you can’t clear from your mind.
Do you remember your first love? Maybe it was in junior high or high school, or maybe it was that little red head girl that you played with in the park sand box.
But the feeling? You remember it don’t you?
The name, the physical appearance, the smells and sounds that were present when you planted that first kiss. Took your breath away didn’t it?
What about that job that you love so much that you can’t wait to get to work and start your day and take over the business world? The energy you have when you enter the office can be felt across the room by the other staff members and it begins to generate throughout the building. You go to bed at night thinking about other ways to improve the position or status of the job. Pretty much the same feelings sometimes!
What about a sport that you just love to play? You smell the freshly cut grass, and the glove on your hand or the ball spiraling through the air, running like the wind. There is nothing in the world that can stop you from getting to that field and playing and not just play to win, but, just because the overwhelming joy of being a part of this magnificent game just takes your breath away.
Yes, it happens! That new feeling you had when you first started your job has filtered into a routine. The game that you so enjoyed playing now has become a ritual and a habit and you’re getting older and you can’t run as fast or throw as far. Your partnership has blossomed into a bit of separate likes and dislikes and maybe you have grown apart and forgotten that original sense of tingle in your toes. But you’ve experienced love! You’ve experienced one of the greatest gifts.
I feel deep sorrow for anyone who has never been blessed with loving something or someone.
My favorite passage from the bible speaks about love as being perfect and something you should strive for. Without love, you are nothing. It is not evil but happy with the truth. Love never gives up…
I think you just misplaced it that’s all.
Can you get it back? Of course you can! It may be a bit more of a challenge and yes sometime we have to work at it bit more, but if you just place yourself at the very beginning. Remember the smell, the sounds, the music in your ears, the beat of your heart it will find its way back into your life.
So what if the uniform fits a bit more snug.
How hard is it to just put the newspaper down in the morning and take a few minutes just to stare into each other’s eyes?
Or, for us flooring people, have you forgotten the wonderful aroma your store has or maybe you need to get on the floor and sell again. I guarantee that energy you once felt, the reason for your existence, the spring in your step, the music in your heart will find it’s way back to you.
“All you need is love”

Keep climbing!
Cat

Enlightened Purrs...pective LOVE

Enlightened Purrs...pective -Strength

Strength !

We’ve heard of muscular strength, mental strength, spiritual strength. There are phrases such as being “strong in your convictions” or “strong as Steel”. When we struggle within, people opt to say, “stay strong, you can do this”!
I never realized how much pressure it is to “stay strong”. At least not on my own!
Even a fire, hurricane, or tornado has the ability to bend the thickest piece of steel. So, how can the human spirit, heart, soul and muscles stay strong if steel has it’s own breaking point? After all, “we’re only human. We get tired of trying. We lose faith, we get sick, our muscles ache, we have pressures. When we lose someone in our life, whether it is due to death, divorce, change of job stature or relocation we feel weak, helpless and lost. Anything far from strong! We can’t seem to find the strength to carry on.
My strength began with my mother and father. They encouraged me, loved me, and they taught me about my faith. And then they were strong by letting me loose to fly like a bird spreading my wings and growing stronger in other ways. I’ve surrounded myself with teachers, friends and co-workers all whom provided additional forms of belief and strength.
It’s not just one beam of steel that holds a bridge. It takes many to support the daily traffic of life.
Carpet One Floor & Home and the members are like my supporting beams of steel. Not just because of the knowledge I have gain, but the friendships I have made. I am stronger because of so many of the men and woman who make up this group. I’ve cried with many, I laughed with even more. I’ve danced the dance of life and become a stronger person for learning the steps with you!
Togetherness = Strength
“…with your strength, you’ve strengthened me”! – psalms 138:3

Keep climbing !
Cat