Pure Joy

I belong to a geographic group on Facebook.  Daily, there are all kinds of posts from stuff for sale to inquiries about where to find the best pizza in town to thoughts on politics or even jokes.  Recently, someone posted that she is the caregiver for an older special needs woman.  The woman had always wanted to be a ballerina, and a generous local dance school offered her a scholarship to learn ballet.  The caregiver was looking to borrow or find inexpensive ballet gear to make this dream come true.

The local community rallied and gathered ballet gear in the blink of an eye.  Her caregiver shared a photo of the woman glowing, radiant, and happy in her tutu and leg warmers, and I could absolutely feel her happiness in the photo as she was one step closer to realizing her dream.  She was beaming!  The Facebook group had many supportive comments in response to the photo, and soon enough, the local news channel had caught word of the community’s outreach to help one special needs woman with big dreams.  They filmed a spot for the evening news of her showing off her ballet gear and her best ballet twirl.

Her caregiver posted in the Facebook group that they were going to have a “viewing party” to celebrate the woman being on the news at a local restaurant.  I had somewhere I needed to be right after work that day, but I kept looking at the post over and over…I was so touched by her optimistic dreams and caregiver’s kindhearted efforts to make everything come together that I just had to do something.

I left work 5 minutes early to dash to the closest grocery store to find a cake suitable for a ballerina who was being featured on the news.  I found a cake with cheerful, bright icing flowers, but also grabbed a single cupcake so the ballerina wouldn’t have to share.

This was completely nuts.  I didn’t know this woman or her caregiver, but watching the story unfold through Facebook resonated with me enough that I was scampering into a restaurant, cake in hand.

When I spotted them, I approached the table, and said, “Hi, aren’t you the famous ballerina?” and the ballerina-in-the-making smiled the biggest smile and nodded enthusiastically.  Her caregiver and friends smiled, too, a table full of love and happiness.  I explained that I brought cake to celebrate her being on television, but that the big cupcake with the flower on top was just for her.

She gave me such a sincere, sweet, spontaneous hug and smiled the most radiant grin that I almost burst into happy tears on the spot.  She was pure joy, so in the moment, so delighted.  Her happiness was contagious, filling the room and my heart in an instant.

I brought this future ballerina the gift of cake, but her hug, her joy, her boundless optimism that despite any limitations life may have dealt her, she was going to be a ballerina…all of that was a gift for me.  Her ability to be so present was glorious.

So much to learn from one sweet spirit: Be here now; be present.  Giving a gift can actually be a gift for the giver.  It is never to late to chase your dreams.  There is delight in every step of the journey.  Limitations are only barriers if you perceive them as insurmountable.

Thank you, sweet ballerina; thank you so much.

2 thoughts on “Pure Joy”

  1. Thank you!! Brought tears reading about your wonderful gift! I had seen it on the news and cried when I saw her! Thanks for being the awesome person you are

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