Last night I had a few notary jobs. I’m so grateful for these jobs because it means a little extra money in our account and this month has been a doozy with Rich’s truck being in the shop, dentist bills with no insurance, homecomings, birthdays, unexpected expenses. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m grateful so grateful for the opportunity to make a little extra money. I’m thankful I have a friend who thinks of me and arranges these opportunities.
More exciting than the money is the conversations I get to have with the folks I notarize for. People and their stories are so interesting and I feel like I grow each time I meet someone new and hear a little bit of their story.
Please remember that I’m in every single way an introvert that I’m not a huge conversationalist and I’m a shy person. This just means every single time I have a notary a job with a stranger that no matter how many times I’ve done this, I get so nervous, butterflies and I literally have to take a few deep breathes before I even get out of my car and I often, very often say a prayer. I know seriously get ahold of yourself. It’s just verifying someone’s identity.
Anyways, last night the second client walked in. A tall 72 year old veteran with tanned skin, bald head and blue eyes. I knew the moment he walked in he had a military background. Turns out his name was misspelled on all the documents so I had the privilege to hear some stories for about an hour while the documents were being reprinted. This man was pretty incredible. He didn’t talk about his military career he mostly talked about what he has learned in his life so far. He has worked hard all his life. He was ready to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He just bought a truck and trailer and had them painted to match and he is ready to travel the United States, see what he has yet to see. Enjoy his days. He was telling me he used to teach at UCLA for 4 years and had his doctorate. Yes, the highest degree of education. A Doctor! He wasn’t sharing this to brag about his success rather he told me the story about how when he was 55 years old and the sole provider for his only son who was 5 at the time, he had a medical emergency and nearly lost his life. He thought to himself he surely couldn’t leave his only son whose mother had already abandoned him, he had to live. And lived he did. That brush with death changed his entire outlook. He got back to his office and every single thing that had the title Doctor on it, he took down. He used to find great pleasure in introducing himself as Dr. upon meeting new people. Not anymore. He was more than a title. He was a person. He found more pleasure in being a person who lived the life he intended rather than be that doctor he worked so hard to become. I loved to hear that story. I just loved it. I learned from it. He told me how he teaches yoga and meditation at the Veterans center twice a week, he told me how he believes living more simply is much better than having so many things that we want and don’t need. He was a ray of light in this what seems to be such a trying time. I believe if we sat with more people we would realize the world isn’t as terrible as people try and have you believe. I believe it’s our job to carry on the goodness, pay it forward and if more people spent time doing things like this rather than spending time hating those that don’t believe like they believe then the world would be so much better for it.
I’m grateful I can write out my thoughts in this blog and you can choose to agree with it or not. The beauty of free speech. Let us keep it free. Have beautiful weekend.