June 18, 2015
Yesterday, I had made plans to visit my mom and take her to lunch. It was a beautiful Wednesday morning with sunny skies and moderate temperatures. A perfect day to lunch by a lake I thought. The drive would take 2 hours, so I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. When I arrived at mom’s house I went inside to greet her while she gathered her things. She thought a sweater might be a good thing to have with her in case it got windy or cooler. My twenty four year old niece lives with my mother for the time being, and mom said that she was upstairs asleep sick with tonsillitis. I said I was sorry to hear that and we left for the lakeside restaurant. During the course of conversation at lunch we talked about my niece. She is a hard worker and is currently working two jobs. Two day shifts at a medical lab an hour and a half away and four night shifts at an almond bagging factory thirty minutes away. She needed a better car to handle the miles so she purchased a new car the week before and it overheated the first day she had it. She was now stuck with a loaner car until it gets sorted out. A couple of days after her car problem, my niece was sick. My mom and I both agreed that it was probably stress that finally pushed her over the edge into full blown tonsillitis. We talked on many subjects over the course of our quality-time lunch and returned to mom’s house. I again went inside. My niece was up and sitting in the living room. We talked and I asked her how she was feeling. The subject of her work schedules came up. My niece shared her frustration about working at the “nut” factory. The owner shows preferential treatment to employees that are his friends. She complained that her employer wanted her to finish out her shift even though she was clearly ill and running a high temperature. Then she spoke about hoping to get a full-time position at the medical lab, and she thought they would be letting her know soon. She liked it there and the job made her feel needed and appreciated. My mom spoke up at that point and said my niece should not take the job at the lab for anything less than 12.00 per hour. Okay, here’s where it gets interesting…I am somewhat of a Native-American Spider Woman. You know, the strong feminine shaman energy in a tribe that told stories with hidden meaning and supported the feminine power. I’m also very connected to spirit. So as this conversation I was hearing from my mom and my niece unfolded, I was moved by spirit (grin) to share. The words just came rolling out of my mouth. I said, it isn’t a perfect world. They both looked at me with perplexed looks on their faces. And I said it again, it isn’t a perfect world. I proceeded to relate an event that happened to me one day many years ago. I was driving my 10 year old daughter to school. Her father and I divorced when she was three so I raised her on my own. It was her and me until she was 16. Her question to me that morning took me by surprise. She asked why did I only make 11.00 an hour working beside the doctors in the operating room saving lives and her father make 25.00 an hour working at a factory assembly line making cars? It said it was a good question. My answer was, it isn’t a perfect world. Now, my mother and my niece were listening intently to what I was saying waiting patiently for me to elaborate and put it into terms that made sense to them. As in Spider Woman tradition, I didn’t say any more. The way in which I told the story and infused it with energy made the meaning very clear. Since you readers were not there to hear it and feel it, I'll tell you. Sometimes you must do what lifts you up and honors your internal truth instead of go for the money. Without the honoring of your spirit you will have feelings of frustration in a job that pays, but does not have meaning or purpose to you. Fulfillment will not come, there will still be a hole...something missing. To me, this is the key: what has meaning to you. You are the driver of your life’s course. Only you know the truth of what lifts you and supports you and what does not. Taking the time to look is all that is needed to keep you on course. As the saying goes; do what you love and the money will follow.