Call me crazy, insane, whatever you like. What I am about to type may shock you. Call it an urge from a higher power, an ache that I could not explain whatever the case may be, I had to do something about it. Right after the article about my store was put into The Morning Call back in December, I received a letter in the mail. At first I was disturbed by it a little, I will admit. However, I did not get the negative feeling that most people did when I read it to them. The outside of the envelope read Pa Department of Corrections. Yes, it came from a man who is serving 5 years in prison for theft, public drunkenness, and DUI's. In his letter he seemed to be an all around funny guy. He has a great sense of humor, an upbeat personality and very down to earth. His, what he called "complete crap shot" of writing to me and wanting a response was something he felt compelled to do when he saw the opening of what he called "unique and rare" business. This man has a passion for photography and needed to tell me that he loved my idea of my business and wanted to wish me great success. He also asked me to be his pen pal. He has ZERO intentions of ever meeting me in person and says that he is just incredibly bored and in need of a females opinion on some personal matters he has with his 16 year old daughter.
I am thinking, "God, you have got to let me know what I am to do with this letter." I put it in the drawer of my desk, waiting for an answer. We all know that when we pray, ask for an answer, miracle or whatever, it doesn't come right away. I was in no rush to throw this letter away or answer. It sat there from December until last week. Finally I opened it again and this time I read it to my mom. This time I really read in depth about this mans life. He wrote 8 pages of little here and there details of his upbringing, how he got to jail, etc. I firmly believe that we all make mistakes and sometimes we choose to have people in our lives that are negative influences...just as he had. In parts of his letter I was in shock over how him and I are very much alike. Of course we took different paths which ended us in two completely different places.
When I got to a part of the letter on how his grandmother was more like a mother to him, I lost it. I could not contain myself. He is writing something that I have always felt. When I could speak again, I finished the letter. It then hit me like a brick.....I knew exactly what to do for this lost soul. There is a reason why this man chose me and neither of us may ever know the answer to that.
I recently purchased these awesome butterfly chipboard albums. I love butterflies. On my left shoulder I have a butterfly tattoo. I like that butterflies change so much throughout their lives and become this beautiful creature. I always compare them to our own lives. Since I have just read The Secret, I decided that I needed to pass it along to this man. How do I do this without sending the book, and how do I incorporate this butterfly?
If you have checked out www.thesecret.tv/ there is a memory game that you can play. The game keeps track of how many tries it takes you to accomplish the game. When you have your number of tries at the end, you are to scroll down to that number. Listed are a bunch of quotes fro The Secret. It is stated that the quote you read WILL pertain to something in your life. I have played this game a number of times and found it to be very true. I decided to take quotes from The Secret and incorporate them into this chipboard album. Because there are so many quotes and only 5 pages in this album, I used the memory game to help me choose which quotes I was going to use. Each time I played the memory game, the quote it came up with was perfect.
With each quote I put a picture. One picture was a sunset, one was the beach, one was of a shadow of a man with his his arms in the air facing the sun. I am hoping that this man will read each quote and start using them. I feel that this is what I was supposed to for him. I mailed it out yesterday and feel a sense of satisfaction. I feel I did something wonderful...even though there are many who disagree. Obviously there was no information about myself or anything personal in this album. It was only an inspiration for him. I know with his love for photos and creativity, he will enjoy his gift. I am not sure what will come of it all I know is that it is something I had to do.
What I am thankful for today:
Makenna
Gavin
Butterflies
The fact that we are in control of our lives and we all can change
the sun
Deigo
my kitties
