In the spirit of a post I have seen on Facebook, and it totally relates to what I’ve been going through this week, I am including the message at the end of this post.  If you aren’t going to read anything else, please read that at least.

This week has been a difficult one for me.  It had been a couple of years since a single txt message from a friend stopped me in my tracks with overwhelming sadness and grief. I’m not going to go into the details here about what happened this time. That is private to those involved, but it has brought back so many memories for me that I thought I should share the story of a true inspiration.

Kim

It was fall of 2009 when I received an out of the blue txt message from my friend Kim.  This was a much different message then the one I would be getting from her a year later, but it was right after she went through a tough battle with cancer and she was taking some much needed R & R time with her family.  I don’t have the old txt, but it basically said:

Hi Chris, I am at an beautiful photo gallery in Vegas right now and was thinking how cool it will be when your work is displayed like this.

It touched me that she took the time to do that, but even more, was her confidence in me. When I laughed back at her, she made sure I understood she was serious. But that was Kim. She always found a way to make the people around her feel special and I was very fortunate to be one of those who got to know her.   I am definitely not alone though. She was a teacher and I always thought that to be the perfect fit for her and a real treat for those lucky enough to be in her class.

When I received her txt message many months later, telling a group of us that the cancer returned and now it was terminal, I was at a loss for words.  I assumed she would go silent as well, but I was very wrong.  She was on Facebook almost every day liking a post or commenting on a friend’s status.   Always trying  to pick up their spirits and never looking for sympathy.

Before she left us, she made me promise to have a gallery show some day.  I simply nodded, but I understood she meant it, and when I feel my work is good enough, I will honor her wish and give a little wink up to the sky, like I did the night we had to say goodbye.  When I did, the image below was what I saw.

Did you know the people that are the strongest are usually the most sensitive? Did you know the people who exhibit the most kindness are the first to get mistreated? Did you know the one who takes care of others all the time are usually the ones who need it the most? Did you know the 3 hardest things to say are I love you, I’m sorry, and help me. Sometimes just because a person looks happy, you have to look past their smile and see how much pain they may be in. To all my friends who are going through some issues right now–Let’s start an intention avalanche. We all need positive intentions right now. If I don’t see your name, I’ll understand. May I ask my friends wherever you might be, to kindly copy and paste this status for one hour to give a moment of support to all those who have family problems, health struggles, job issues, worries of any kind and just need to know that someone cares. Do it for all of us, for nobody is immune. I hope to see… this on the walls of all my friends just for moral support. I know some will!! I did it for a friend and you can too. You have to copy & paste this one, no share button, because kindness is a effort given from the heart not the press of a button!!!