My Favorite Quote

Blog Challenge Day Three: My Favorite Quote

Many many moons ago my friend Jen drew me a picture. At the bottom she wrote "I just want to me without making it difficult for you to be you".

I never looked the quote up to see if it was lovingly borrowed because I've always wanted to believe they were her words from her heart and soul and spoken directly for me. I am perfectly fine if I never know anything to the contrary.

But those words (and that drawing) have never left me. They struck me so deeply that they became my personal mantra and mission statement. That little phrase defined so gracefully sentiments that I hadn't quite been able to articulate before.

It held true then. It holds true today.

Now, I have always been a little (and a lot) different. Too smart for the typical kids and not smart enough for the geniuses. Too bold and outspoken and then too sensitive and emotional. Too young. Too old. Too much. Not enough. Quite frankly, though over the years I've become comfortable with my peculiarities, it hasn't been until the last year or so that I've ever felt completely comfortable any one place at all.

It's fabulous to be different.
It's big and bright and colorful.
It's glorious.
And unbelievably difficult.
And a constant struggle.
And terribly lonely.
And takes a lot of courage.

Over the years I've collected an amazing array of vastly unique friends. All incredibly different in their race, religion, beliefs, tastes, opinions and experiences. I'm so very very proud of that and all the gifts they bring to my silly little life. I've been able to successfully employ that small phrase in my life and reap its benefits when passionately and honestly applied. I've seen with my own eyes, felt in my soul and drowned in the sadness that results when we CAN'T be who we need to be without leaving room for another to be who they need to be.

I follow events, intently watch the world around me, reconcile my own experiences and keep coming back, again and again, to that tiny cluster of words.

Call it what you want .... "Do unto others" .. "Be the change you wish to see" .. But I know what it is like - first hand - when the world pushes you away because it doesn't have room. I know how I wish to be received and welcomed. I know I have A LOT of room and space for a really lot of things and folks. And I know in my heart and soul how wonderful it is when my orbit is a beautiful chaos of color and light.

Don't get it twisted. I miss the mark a lot. Too often. But I always come right back to a handful of words that I choose to try to live by.

It's what I expect from others. It's what I demand of myself.

I just want to me without making it difficult for you to be you.

Promise.