I Am One Person

“I’m only one person” - younger Lynn used to say, with some measure of despair.

I didn’t feel like I could make a difference, fight the fights that I wanted to, because (my perspective at the time was that) it wouldn’t amount to anything.
That used to be my judgment, opinion, assessment.
It also reflected my lack of trust (and maturity) back then, in myself and in my community.

It’s a much different story today. 

I am one person.
And I can start one conversation at a time. 
And those conversations can connect people, which I now believe generates True Community.

An example: 

Corey and I were out for the evening on Earth Day, at a local farm that grows for local restaurants and farmer’s markets, right here in Oceanside, California.

Magical night.

A couple sits down, directly across from us.

My book comes up.

New friend asks: “what’s it about?”

Me (after a pause and a reluctant chuckle, remembering the last time I was asked that question at a party, and I responded to that question, it ended in tears because the lady had lost her mom a couple years before, from covid): “Oh, you don’t want to know, it’s depressing. We’re at a party, we just met.”

His lady friend persists, asking again: “What is your book about?”

The rest of the evening was the highlight of an already beauti-full week, where all the green lights seemed to be clicking in synchronicity.

Turns out, the lady friend is a local psychologist, in a neighboring town, who fully “got it” and supports these kinds of conversations, even at a social event.

I told them both that one of the things I’m exploring, and speaking about in various scenarios, is “how not to kill the joy at a party, as the author of my book”, which centers on a somewhat “heavy” subject…

I grapple with the significance of my purpose and my message of support and encouragement for other family caregivers, knowing that there is a growing number of us cropping up in the world as Boomers age, and more generations are “sandwiched” into caring for children, grandchildren, and elders.

And it’s my purpose that has me speaking up about my personal experience in service of fellow family caregivers.

I will speak up. I will share, as long as it feels like the appropriate and right timing - as my husband Corey reminds me sometimes to “read the room”. 

So, I listen, use my intuition, and “feel into” the “field”, trusting my judgments, assessments, opinions about my “audience” in the present moment.

“What is your book about?” has become a loaded question, and an opportunity for this book to start conversations that matter to me and others who are all-of-a-suddent able to relate.

I am one person.

We are one community.

We are all connected.

Let’s keep these conversations going, and become more comfortable with being uncomfortable.
We need each other.

We are all just walking each other home ~ Ram Dass

This blog post is shared in honor of my mom, Rosemary Ann Hakim, aka RahRah, who took her final breath on this day exactly six years ago. She taught me to speak up, for myself and others, especially when no one else seems to be using their words. I’m here for it all. Perhaps, now that I’ve published an International best-selling non-fiction book, I feel a little more courageous. Perhaps, now that I’m not that young girl any longer, I don’t care as much about what other people think of me. I’m good with that.

A memorable meeting at Cyclops Farms.

One voice, one conversation, one planet. I am one person.