June 8

Today’s gift may be the most transformative yet; not to mention the most unexpected.  I am currently away at outdoor school with a large group of students and teachers and unfortunately, one of our students fell ill late last evening.  I am the emergency driver on this trip, so once we established that she was indeed very sick, I sprung into action—packing and phoning and heading home. I asked another teacher to join me because I did not want to drive at night in the rain alone for 3 hours.  I always find the car a very comforting and slightly intimate place; there is a lot of chatting and visiting that can happen when you have little else to do for long periods.

My fellow teacher and I got to talking about our life stories and how we came to be who and where we are and I suddenly found myself telling my whole truth to a colleague.  This colleague is very dear to me and has always been an incredible support at work, but we have only really known one another for 10 months.  Like everyone, I have a life story that has levels of openness with different people, but those who know the whole truth end up holding a significant spot in my heart.  Very few make it to this spot, but the timing and the person seemed right and so my gift ended up being sharing my truth with her.

The universe knew that she could not only handle my truth but that it opened a door that connected us in ways that form the kinds of friendships that last.  The universe knew that I was ready to show her my vulnerabilities and that she would be the supportive kind of person that is rare in our world.  The universe knew that today’s gift would give me a friend who can look at me and really see me for who and what I am and how I got to this place.

June 9

Today at camp I got to play the role of talking giant leaf—it’s true, and I waited all week for this moment in the spotlight!  This job entailed spending 3 hours under a tarp in the pouring rain teaching kids about photosynthesis, a thankless job to say the least.  I was fulfilling this duty with a parent volunteer and I was pretty sure that we were going to have a good time, but I wanted to make sure that I was a hospitable host under that tarp so I packed a light snack consisting of dark chocolate, twizzlers, chips, and juice—all things that are definitely not served at the camp cafeteria!  So we sat under our tarp and played our starring roles and ate junk food for three hours and laughed more than I have in quite some time.

Did I mention that I love this challenge?  Well I do.  I had high expectations for how rewarding this giving would be; perfectionists are really great at imagining perfect things.  I had no idea that this goes beyond perfect, or at least any perfect I could have imagined.  I am beginning to believe that when I seek perfect, it outruns me and when I sit back and let it happen, I surpass it at speeds I did not know I could travel.

Read about Day 7 in Rachel’s Challenge.

Read about Days 5 & 6 in Rachel’s Challenge.

Read about Day 4 in Rachel’s Challenge.

Read about Days 2 & 3 in Rachel’s Challenge.

Read about Day 1 in Rachel’s Challenge.

Read about why Rachel started the 29 Day Challenge.

Related posts:

1. 29 Days of Giving: Days 5 & 6
2. 29 Days of Giving
3. 29 Days of Giving Challenge: Day One