There You Are My Kindred Spirit

Once in every great while, we receive the incredible surprise of having someone placed on our path that is a kindred spirit.  We recognize this person instantly.  They feel like instant family & like we have known them a lifetime.  My heart’s hope is that you have had many kindred spirits come into your life & continue to find you as you journey through life.

When we stop to think about the timing of finding our kindred spirits or them finding us, do you find that it is often when we have a question or a struggle?  They come to be the answer to a prayer I found.  The best part of finding a kindred spirit in our company is the instant way that we can choose to find the time to be together in joy.  It is that sense of timelessness & presence that is an indescribable gift.  I cannot believe how many kindred spirits I have been blessed to come to know over the years.  It is funny though how my perspective & gratitude & awareness has changed over the years about kindred spirits.

It seems that the older I get, the more I appreciate & instantly know a kindred spirit & “get” that I have been given a gift.  Then I know it is up to me to put into action my principle of always keeping what matters most way ahead of anything else in life.  It is one thing to think & even believe this yet quite another to practice this.  We don’t get to schedule when we will meet our kindred spirits obviously.  What that means to me is that I had better become pretty proficient in shifting my schedule around when kindred spirits are set upon my path.

This past weekend, I had the joy to happen upon a kindred spirit.  Our family was attending a community event & afterwards, there was a social gathering time.  Our boys have inherited my love of social time in spades so going to the social time was a given.  My husband is a patient fellow who basically bides his time while the boys & I chat away to others.  My husband is admittedly eccentric in that he is very comfortable to do a presentation naturally to a large crowd of people however he cannot find anything to say one on one in conversation or in small groups.  It continues to baffle many people as they describe him as outgoing & yet I always declare that he is actually pretty quiet & is uncomfortable during social gatherings. 

While in line for treats, I found myself joking with many folks that I already knew & some folks that I was just meeting for the first time.  I thank my Dad for his outgoing nature for “the gift of the gab” & my Grandpa Brown for the gift of a sense of humour.  And it may sound strange to hear this but I also thank type 1 diabetes for the permission that it gave me to just be myself unapologetically.  Hey, sometimes, I get the “rolling eyeballs” from people & I certainly have a reputation as someone who is over the top enthusiastic.  I am absolutely 100% okay with that.  Some folks would prefer that I dial it back considerably however that is not going to happen.  Just like you, I am not happy to have type 1 however I am over the top about the meaning that it brought to how I live my life…the “getting it.”

By the time I reached the coffee pot, there she was my kindred spirit.  While we had not met before, we “knew” each other instantly.  Within 5 minutes of first meeting one another, we had each said, “me too” more times than we could count.  And our faces were sore from smiling in a great way! We were the last ones to leave the social time yet we each knew that we wanted to hear more of one another’s stories.  It would have been the easiest thing in the world to have said goodbye & felt kind of sad to see the time end as we were walking out as they locked up the building.  Instead, we just looked at each other & agreed that we would go for a walk together & share more time together.  My Dear Heart husband took our sons home & smiled at me with that knowing glance that spoke volumes.  He knew that I would not be home anytime soon & that in my mind I had already crossed out anything else that I had planned for the rest of the afternoon.  He can tell when a kindred spirit is on my path.  He has seen this many times before.

How cool is it to literally be walking on a path together with a kindred spirit who has just been set on our path!  Our “me too” moments continued for 4 hours.  Out of the many “me too” moments, one that did not surprised either one of us is that we both chose to work in the counseling field & that we were both given sentimental hearts & that we are both hugely enthusiastic.

One lesson that type 1 diabetes taught me about life is to seize the moment.  Prior to type 1 most of the time I did not exchange contact information with a new kindred spirit but instead simply hoped that our paths would cross again.  Often times they did not cross again & I felt sad about that & more than that disappointed in me for not exchanging information.  Yesterday, I was quick to reach into my purse & write out my contact information & my new friend did the same.  I get it now that when someone dear comes into my life that I have been given a gift & it is up to me to keep the friendship & the celebration going.  Diabetes has taught me to take a chance & that yes sometimes we get hurt by being our sentimental selves, yet greater than that there is a place where kindred spirits live.  We don’t want to miss that.

At one point during our time together, I went into low blood sugar.  How do we behave when we have just met a new person for the first time & our blood sugars are melting down or boiling up?  I will admit that I am not too comfortable at the best of times with having to deal with blood sugars in anyone’s company.  I had already shared with her naturally while chatting with her that I have type 1.  She is unfamiliar with type 1 yet she asked a few caring questions in the most natural way that I have ever experienced.  Without words, I knew that even type 1 was not going to allow us anything but joy during our visit.  When I went into low blood sugar, I let her know that I would need to have some sugar which I always carry with me.  We had a seat & the low passed & it was such a comfortable feeling not having to worry about diabetes impressions or stigmas.  And best of all, my kindred spirit thanked me for taking care of the low & telling her.  It is always the same origin that sets Dear Heart kindred spirits on my path & you may know this to be true for you as well.  When I am given the gift of a kindred spirit new friendship, the lesson of diabetes has always reminded me to be present, seize the gift of sharing time together right then & there & exchanging contact information so that we can cherish our friendships always.

My heart’s hope for you is that when you see your kindred spirits that you know them instantly & seize the opportunity to continue the friendship always too.  Oh and as a joy-filled aside, there is someone that I “met” recently as well who is profoundly dear & beautiful that I look forward to sharing “oceans of tea” within Stoney Creek beginning in 2014 .   And it should be a laugh to find my “goat path” over to see my Dear Heart since I am such a “chicken” about driving on major highways.  Beyond that fear of the busy highway though awaits someone absolutely who is a bright light of love & friendship.  I cannot wait Dear Heart.  And for 2014, may it be the year of the kindred spirit.  These Dear Hearts are out there waiting to love you right back…

Smiles, Saundie :)

Happy New Year Beautiful Souls & next Monday's sharing is, "Yes or No, Yet Never Maybe!"   :)