Watching a Movie in Person

Today my friend, Kathy, said she wanted me to meet a special friend, Kim, who arrived as I was leaving for a business meeting. When I returned 4 hours later, Kim was still there. The three of us decided to have dinner and see a movie. I was so enthralled with Kim’s life experiences that the start time of the movie came and went only to find us still sitting in the restaurant.

Kim has endured many hardships in her life: divorce, death of a child, cancer, bronchial pneumonia, financial difficulties and numerous other struggles. Her stories were not ones of despair and defeat, but of hope. She exudes a quiet sense of wonderment and gratefulness. I admire her because she remains full of life. I was also fascinated by stories of her near-death experience.

Yes, she is one of the people that we see on talk shows or read books about describing what it is like to die and live to tell about it. I was amazed by her description of while she was “dead”. She talked about the bright lights and the incredible peaceful feeling that came over her. You may have seen John Edward’s show Crossing Over where he talks to audience members about their experiences.

When I described my giving challenge she said, “You have given me an incredible gift today. You have chosen to share your life with me and how you endured challenges, but yet remained calm and reserved.” I told her that I hadn’t experienced any of the difficulties that she had and I couldn’t imagine being able to deal with what life had given her. She said, “You gave me the gift of wanting to be more giving to others, even when I don’t want to. What a great role model that you are.”

Wow, today’s gift was one I didn’t even know I was giving. And I got to watch a movie unfold sitting at the dinner table with me. That was fun!

In Giving,

Robin