Monday, October 13, 2014

Beyond Today

Hi Readers,
I know this is very rair for me to write two post in the month, but I came across two circumstances that I  thought were totally blog worthy, and they relate to each other. 
So here they are.
One day last week, Micheal's family who was my coach and friend for the first two years of me living on my own, brought some of his books to the lobby because they wanted to help keep his memory and legacy alive and most importantly his mission to help others with disabilities. 
To learn more about Michael, and his book go to my post and title Unforgotton Hero. 
It all started when my assistant went down for a break and said there were a bunch of books in the lobby in memory of Micheal. I decided to grab one for myself because mine was torn up. I was so happy it was like a gift was given to me. Once again and I felt like he was still apart of the building. Then a few days later, I got in a disagreement with someone at the purple pad. I was having a very difficult and stressful day, but then I thought of the books. What do I want to be remembered for?
Do I want to be remembered  as person who cannot express her needs?
Or do I want to be remembered as a eloquent speaker, who helps others?
Do I want to be remembered as someone who always complains about her day to day struggles?
Or do I want to be remembered as someone that shacks it off and keeps dancing?
What do I want my legacy to be?
Just these simple positive thoughts, made the whole rest of my week a lot better, and that got me thinking again, even Michael's spirit is talking to me and telling me, the appropriate direction to turn. 
This pass weekend, an example of legacy came up again. 
My brother and I were in a corn maze at an apple orchard. He was very helpful to me, and with him you never know whether he's going to be helpful or not. But it was very cool. It was like he didn't have a disability. He helped me through the narrow spots, without being frustrated or complaining to much. He took the leaves out of my chair when he noticed that they were getting stuck.When I told him Brian we need to slow down because my chair is stuck, he pushed me out right away without any hesitation. 
When my chair malfunctioned at the very end of the corn maze, he waited patiently for me to fix it before going on any further. The only time, he went ahead of me, during the maze was if there was an easier way for my chair to get through. 
He did this a couple of times, but each time, he returned with a smile and said okay I got this. The experience of the corn maze was something we will never forget. 
This is what I believe, my brother wants to be remembered for a kind, compassionate, person who likes a challenge and a bit of adventure. 
I hope that more people will get to see these sides of him because they are what make him very special to me.
This is what I believe he wants to be remembered for. 
So my question to you is: What do you want to be remembered for? What is your legacy?
Happy to be out of the corn maze, safe and sound at the purple pad.
Jessi

Sunday, October 5, 2014

A Fresh Start

I took a month off writing because I've had alot of thoughts going on in my head, and I wanted to take a break to reflect on them before writing about them. 
In this post I will discuss different philosophy's that I have developed over the past year. As a result of me living on my own for six years .
The first one is "Never Break Tradition. 
For years and years, my friend Paula has been visiting me every summer and I have been going to her place every New Years. But this year, the week that she was suppose to come in, was the week after Tori moved out and things were just crazy. So I told her to come two weeks later, which was Labor Day weekend. I had everything planned out and things finally calmed down here, so I thought it would be perfect. But the Wednesday before, she was suppose to arrive the thing that locked me in the car, broke down and therefor that means I had to use the straps that normally lock her in when she is visiting. We were both devastated, but one day I had an idea. I was going to tell her, that she had a package coming on Saturday and she had to be home at a certain time to receive it. Then Saturday came along, and my car broke down. Shoot another conflict in my plans, but luckily we were able to fix it and I have a gullible enough friend, and she believes that packages come on Sunday, so when I told her that it would be a day late, she didn't even question it. Hour by hour, that day I was telling her from the car, how far away the package was and even though, my visit was not even for 24 hours, we were so thrilled to see each other and not break tradition. It was something we will never forget and a great way to end my year. 
I say My Year because when you are Jewish, you have two New Years, but the Jewish one is really not about partying it is about reflecting on the year as a whole and how you can make your life as well as other people's lives around you better. We talk alot about improving ourselves. And that is what made me come up with these philosophy's. 
My second philosophy, fits right into religion.
I'm not telling you what religion to be, or how to believe I'm just telling you that at the end of last year meaning December, I was really struggling to find meaning in my life. Everything felt scattered, like a bunch of puzzle pieces. I believe, I even wrote about them in another post and  realized that maybe going back to Synagogue would not necessarily give me the answers I needed, but give me strength. 
Since last December, even though this has been a difficult year for me, I notice that on the weeks that I go to Temple wether it is my new ethics class, or just plain services, I feel stronger and more together. I feel like it's easier to take on the week. 
My advise to you is to Find Something That Gives You Strength and Stick To It. 
My third philosophy is the hardest one yet and one that I would be working on all year to overcome. But with the spiritual strength, my love of dance, supportive Family and Friends I'm determined to make this one happen because it will make my whole life alot easier.
I am very grateful for what I have in my life, but when there is something going on, that I really don't agree with, it is hard for me to be grateful for what I have in my life while excepting what is. Each day I will examine the day and try to find away to make myself happy, to that I can except what is.
I know this won't happen overnight and that is why I'm giving myself a whole year to work on what right now seems like a overwhelming goal. 
If you have an overwhelming goal that you would like help with, I would be more than happy to help you as well because I know you will help me with mine. It is one of the hardest things that I have ever done, but I think now that I am 28 I am ready to take on this challenge. I also feel like I can take on this challenge because I was given the birthday of October 2nd, which is around the Jewish New Year which makes me feel like I have a double New Year. 
As Helen Keeler say's "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much."
Much Love, Jessi