You Make Me Feel

I was thinking the other day about my very first memory with death. What was yours? Can you remember the first time you cried over someone’s death? I remember being torn up and super upset and unable to be consoled by the death of Mr. Hooper. Yes! Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street as in Mr. Hoopers grocery… I was a wreck. I was four or five years old and I was shattered. I loved that man and his store and Sesame Street. I remember sitting at home watching Sesame Street every day and enjoying the escape into this magical place. The characters, the stories, the bright colors, and the amazing lessons it was everything I wanted in my world and didn’t have. But Mr. Hooper was especially kind and generous and I wanted to shop with him at our local grocery. He represented a loving grandfather, generous neighbor, and dear friend. This was my first recollection of death and grief. It is funny how we grieve even for those that we do not know.

My music loving husband grieved for three days after the artist formerly known as Prince died. And most of us felt some sort of grief, devastation, or loss when Princess Diana died (those of us born before 1997 at least). All of this to say that life is a mystery and the connections and grief we feel is mysterious too. How could I cry and be heartbroken for Mr. Hooper when I didn’t even really cry when my great grandmother died? It is funny how connections are made energetically with someone we have never met. It is also amazing and beautiful that we, as humans, can experience such deep loss and grief. With out the emotions of grief and feelings of loss how would we ever experience the beauty of joy and happiness of a genuine connection? What an incredible thing that we are capable of such a wide array of emotions. Honestly there is a 100% chance of death for all of us. Even though we can’t live forever, we can truly impact people through how we make them feel whether we personally know them or not. Think about that for a minute…YOU can impact someone’s life just by how you present yourself and the way that you make other people feel. The people that see you in the grocery, at a restaurant, on social media those people you may not know but they feel something when they see you. Or do they? You may be completely unaware that the cashier at your grocery enjoys seeing you because every time you check out you smile and say a kind word. You might not know that there is a friend of a friend who is connected to you through social media and they are inspired by kind words or actions you post. YOU  have an influence on so many people that you are unaware of…this is so important to remember during this human experience. Kindness is such a gift that can outlive us. People will talk about how you made them feel long after your physical body is gone. Let’s be sure they are telling stories of our kindness and generosity.