Day 76 ❦ Thank someone with a gift

Day 76 ❦ Thank someone with a gift

The Gift: An African Skirt and Matching Jewelry

Have you ever had someone come into your life fleetingly who in the end made a life changing impact? So many of the people who have come in and out of my life have changed me in a myriad of ways, I can’t imagine what I would be like without each and every person’s influence.

As a child many of the adults I relied on and who surrounded me were not kind nor caring and I have grown to appreciate the lessons I learned as a result of their influence. They helped me build character, compassion and resilience and I know that I am the person that I am today because of those lessons. They helped me identify and connect with those angels who came into my life early and who helped me live through some very dark times - I am the person I am today as a result of their influence. I am alive today because of their care.

As an adult, I am continually amazed at the number of people who on a regular basis influence and change my life dramatically and impact me in ways that they will never know and today I am going to thank one of those important people who came into my life for a brief moment and changed thousands of lives as a result.

I grew up with an itch to travel. My grandparents would go on trip and I would be one of the few grandchildren who would willingly sit and look at every single slide they had to show of their travels and adventures, over and over, and over, and over again. My Uncle and his friends loved to travel and he sponsored my family to come to New York City to see him off when he went on a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth II (I believe it was the QEII’s final voyage). It was magical to ride in a carriage around Central Park, go into FAO Schwartz’s and my favorite magical memory of that trip was going into his stateroom with him for the first time and seeing his luggage already there, ready to be unpacked and meeting the gentleman who was waiting for him so that he could unpack his luggage. To this day, I fantasize about traveling that way, although I come pretty close when I get to hire a driver for my trips to Africa, okay, that is another story. But actually, this story is about the person who selected me for my first trip to West Africa, Karin Treiber.

Inspired by the travelers in my family, at a very young age, I would get on a bus and go downtown (actually singing that famous song, “Downtown”). I loved seeing where it would take me and my favorite memory was that one of the routes I loved to take took my by a Planter’s peanut shop where I could stop and get a bag of warm peanuts, salty and delicious...I can still taste them today. I did get in trouble one time when I thought it would be fun to go to Boston and got there at the end of the Boston riots in the 70's. Then I discovered trains and realized that they could take me places faster and expand my adventure horizon - allowing me to slip out of school on Wednesdays, get to NYC in time to buy a half price matinee ticket to anything, and get back in time to not be missed at home. Washington DC, NYC, the world began to open up for me.

My Grandfather was one of my biggest supporters and when I graduated from High School gave me $500 and told me to “go have an adventure” I bought a plane ticket to England where I spent three weeks, mostly alone having all kinds of adventures. My first international plane ride. Lots of lessons learned.

In 2003 I was selected to be a Rotary Group Study Exchange Team Leader, which meant that I was going to be leading a team of four young professional non-Rotarians to Ghana, Togo and Benin for five and a half weeks to live, work and interact with Rotarians in those countries to build goodwill and fellowship, develop international friendship and study alternative vocational methodologies and strategies. Our experience was beyond words and my team was the best, and although most GSE Team Leaders say that, I really mean it; they continue to be the best GSE Team ever. Karin Treiber was the GSE Chair who was responsible for helping us prepare for the experience. During the training, she gave me the name of a Rotarian in California who had recently traveled in Ghana and Karin thought connecting with her might be useful. The day Karin gave me that phone number, thousands of lives were about to be impacted.

I did connect with Kay Bliss from Ojai, California at Karin’s request and Kay shared some of her passion and care for Street Girls Aid, an organization she visited while in Ghana. This story will fill another book, but all of the subsequent work that I have done at Street Girls Aid in Ghana is a direct result of Kay’s passion and Karin’s sharing a thought. Today I am honoring the impact that Karin has had on thousands of people’s lives by giving her a skirt I had made for her while In Ghana and some matching jewelry. Not even a close way to thank her, but I am also aware that even this simple thank you will overwhelm her. Her humble graciousness abounds and she will never know the impact her one action will have on thousands and thousands of people, nor will I.

❦ Today, just thank someone because you can.