*Or “can I get a small drink in a large cup?”

Do you have people in your past who turned out to be such a huge part of who you are that bits of them still live your very “being?”  I have people like that. Definitely my grandma, who could cause a backyard party to materialize in seconds with a pack of “weinies” (what she called them) and a water sprinkler. She is the queen of “come as you are” parties, which were a thing a long time ago.

Grandma also hosted an after-school Kids Bible Study in my living room every Wednesday when I was in 5^th grade using a “flannelgraph” which was a flannel flip chart with essentially paper dolls that had grippy pre-Velcro stuff on the back. We learned all about the walls of Jericho and Moses and the Great Exodus. I especially liked the Red Sea part.

That woman must have contributed an inordinate amount of DNA to me, because I look the most like her as I am getting older. I am almost as silly and fun as she was – okay, maybe sillier and equally as fun. I am convinced that I have predetermined personality tendencies from her.

Obviously, I got parts from my parents. My mom was the artsy one and my dad endowed me with a desire to “buy American.” He also gave me extreme resourcefulness. I don’t need a screwdriver if I have a butter knife… if you know me, you know that. But beyond family, I have some people who built whole rooms in me, complete with wide open doors I step in anytime I want, and I find myself in some of those rooms when I least expect it.

An example of this are the friends from my “between” years. Between being a child and being an adult, in that period where you think you are an adult, but can’t vote or buy liquor, you basically make some of the worst decisions of your life, influenced by all that brain-fogging adolescent chemical activity, fueled by peer pressure, life trauma, teachers’ voiced opinions and stuff you learn from your friends. I am not saying I made any better decisions in the years after that.

A few examples: One friend got me to love swimming and I was on a swim team and a lifeguard after that  – sources of great personal pride. That wasn’t a bad decision, by the way.  Another friend’s parents were wise and offered constant unsolicited sagery. I still hear their wise words – unheeded but later found to be SOOOO TRUE. Someone who was an absolutely true friend, unrecognized by me until years later, that I treated so poorly at every critical turn. I didn’t mean to be that way. I honestly think I was really stupid and if I was watching my life as a movie, I would be yelling at the screen. A lot of people saw me as arrogant and stuck up, but I didn’t think I was, but it may have looked that way as I just rolled through my really stupid decisions.

I would love to talk to some of these people and let them know how important they became to me as I began to recognize their input that became parts of me. I’ll bet I remember things that would prove to you that I really was paying attention, and that you were always important, even if I didn’t let you know back then.

 You may never know what part of yourself you quietly left behind in someone else.

*You know who you are.

 

Until Next Time,

Your Friend, Tracy