People and Places in passing

Lilly’s establishment has a buzz of business all around, from the time I walked in she was tending to customers, and helping me put quarters into my machines. Our initial introduction was brief and I almost left to find another store but something told me this was the place, maybe it was the chairs outside, or maybe it was the fact that I’d been pouring out more than I had left in the tank, and in my mind I didn’t want to talk to anyone at all. Her first question was what I was doing around here, and my normal answer ” I live in my van and travel around” had struck a chord with her, she too was a wanderer. I immediately asked her if she’d like a tour of the van and she was already walking toward the door. The words she used to describe my space, creative, beautiful, courageous to be doing something like this, It was an affirmation and words that I didn’t realize I had wanted to hear, not from anyone but from her.

I’d later realize how much she’d traveled, how and why. She left home at 18 and used the military as her vehicle to see the world. Her path was twisty and turny, she broke a mold and became her own person. She called me an indigo child, and when i didn’t know what that was she tried star seed child, and when my knowledge failed me yet again she said the chosen one of my family. She then told me to look them up, so naturally I did. We’ll have to do a deeper dive on that one another time.

I recognize the oddities that can come with New Age belief systems, but I think we all would like to be special, chosen, and maaaagical? Maybe we all are, but we’re too bogged down by all the labels that got stuck on us by everything we’ve walked through. That’s what Lilly and I concluded at least. We imagined people from birth walking through life with people stick stick sticking things on us and the continued battle of shaking it all off, the weight and wounds of removing what we think should be with what is. She said that us Indigo children we pour and pour and pour and only every once in a while happen upon another soul who’s there to pour into us, like a gas station in North Dakota it can be few and far between so fill up when you can.

This is NOT to say anything negative about the pouring. I cherish my ability to listen, and give of myself to those that I call friends and family and generally it can be quite a fulfilling experience. It does not need be measured in cups or ounces where and when I pour or where and when I am refilled life is a constant movement and I never expect to be full all the time. The variety of these relationships is comparable to snowflakes, I don’t know that I’ve had many that are the same.

After about a half an hour of talk she soon had to go back to work in her Laundromat, but not before one last story. She recounted the plot of a novella called Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. She told the story as a skilled orator. She flapped her seagull wings, and explained how one seagull, through his own love of flying found himself alone but only for a moment. Having been banished from his flock due to his love of flight as he left that place he quickly stumbled upon a bird flying backwards, he’d found his tribe. I think that stories find us just like people do. Maybe it’s a reminder to fly free, and not fear the opinions of those around me, maybe it’s just the joy of a story to enjoy. Either way I’m better for it.

Before leaving, I walked over to say goodbye, she was pretty nestled into her work space so I reached over a table and offered my hand in lieu of a hug. She held my hand tight and we both said goodbye. Neither of us let go, and she bowed her head, and I bowed mine and she said a prayer, an intercession on my behalf. She prayed for my good health, and for me to continue finding my way. I’m thankful for the spirit of a woman connected to faith, and I will accept any and all prayers on my behalf from such women. I left with fresh sheets an a clear mind that day. I had laughed and cried about womanhood and the strong belief that I was meant for something but not sure what yet. This interaction had healed a part of me, given me new light and another book to add to my growing “I should read this” list.

I don’t know to what I owe the pleasure but thank you Mrs. Lilly.