She had a tight-knit group of pals who were a big part of my early years. Her childhood best friend has always played a key role and I called her Aunt Becky for a time [sidenote: Is that a southern thing? Calling a family friend "auntie" or "uncle"?] Anyway, I somehow outgrew calling her "aunt" and settled on calling her my godmother. It has more pomp and circumstance, don't you think? We're nothing if not over the top (in the very best way).
My mom had another childhood friend named John, who for some reason I called "Poppin' John." I don't know for sure how this moniker came to be, but I think it had something to do with the Smurfs, or Papa Smurf, or perhaps the popular dish hoppin' John?
The point of this story is that even though many of my mom's girlhood pals have gone their separate ways, many of them still keep in touch. Through the magic of social media, I'm in touch with some of them as well, even if I don't see them as often as I'd like. Poppin' John, who is now just John, shared the most wonderful story today on Facebook and I re-posted it on the SBS Facebook page.
I wanted to share it with you too, in case you don't frequent the social medias or maybe missed it.
He said he was so encouraged that it caused him to run up a hill he didn't think he could have mustered before.
He challenged his Facebook friends to "be the encouragement that somebody needs today." It hit me squarely between the eyes. This is what I want out of life.
Be the encouragement.
If my blog is nothing else but this, I will feel like I've achieved my goal.
I so want to use this space as a place to encourage others. It's not about the Pin-worthy outfits or meals I photograph in just the right light. It's not about the swoon-worthy DIY projects I do or the way every room in my house looks like an Anthropologie catalog. None of these things are even true by the way...my last outfit was a Wal-Mart t-shirt, my last meal was at S&S Cafeteria, I haven't DIY'ed in ages and my house is great, but nothing that a design blogger would gasp about.
So many days, sometimes several times a day I find myself needing to hear the words that lady yelled at Poppin' John. You got this. You can do it. Keep going.
And my guess is that you do too.
Why do we need to hear this so much? I think it's because we're so hell-bent on believing the worst. That we don't got this. We can't do it. And why not just give up?
Honestly, I feel like giving up sometimes. There are sad things all around us. And it's easy to get dragged down by it all.
But the truth is always true. We were created with a purpose. And while this life seems really hard sometimes, there's always good stuff around the corner. We can expect good things. Because we've got this. We can do it. So let's keep going.
