Photo: The Wooden Soldier Diner, Fairhaven, Vermont. Breakfast this morning.
I’ve never met Janet Hamilton, and probably never will, but I’d like to. In a way, we are close friends. We’ve corresponded for some years now. She is a traveler, a pilgrim, an outcast, a seeker of a meaningful life and we take turns being inspired by each another.
This round goes to her.
Janet is a native Californian, she worked caring for horses and other farm animals in Northern California until the catastrophic fires of 2017 destroyed her home and her work. She has been working hard to rebuild her life. It seems that she finally came home a couple of weeks ago.
We met when she joined the late Creative Group At Bedlam Farm, and I got to see her passionate and honest writing. We bonded then in the curious way of the Internet, and have stayed connected. I remember sending her a biography of Henry David Thoreau, I don’t know anybody better suited for it.
The Internet isn’t all about nasty and intrusive people, you can really make friends there.
This week, a friend named Susan Popper lost her life to cancer and liver disease.
And a friend named Janet Hamilton found her life in the smoldering wreck of her life. The symmetry of life never ceases to amaze. I have learned to accept life. I don’t wring my hands over it.
These two remind me that life is a wheel turning and turning, circling around and around and that life and death are equal partners in our journey. And that Grandma Moses is right. Life is what you make of it.
People are always losing their lives, people are always finding their lives.
Janet has pulled her life together literally out of its ashes, and she reminds me to love life rather than waste too much time lamenting or doubting it. Whatever they do to us, whatever they throw at us, grace is about keeping on living and searching.
Janet has found grace. And strength. And her soul.
She sent me this message this morning, it certainly lifted my heart up, I read it to Maria on the way to Vermont.
I wanted to share it with you. She found herself working preparing food for the elderly, and she has never been happier.
Janet’s e-mail is [email protected]. Please feel free to write to her if you loved her message as much as I do.
“Dear Jon, I wanted to thank you for writing about your experience at the Mansion. Senior centers were always a foreign place to me. I never felt comfortable in them. I remember when I was young, my mom would drop my grandmother off for the day program to play cards and visit with the other seniors.
A couple of years ago, I was inspired by your blog posts to volunteer at a local memory care center/nursing home. I started a coloring books program. It was so depressing there, I only lasted two weeks. I felt like a volunteer failure.
In the last couple of years, after losing my pet sit clients because of losing their farms and ranches during the 2017 firestorm, I bounced around working at various jobs. My heart was never in it, I would come home down, sometimes even in tears, telling Scott I was wasting my life, my work had no purpose. I couldn’t find a job that felt right for me.
Until now.
I am so excited and happy.
After months of job applications, interviews, etc. I accepted a job as the Bistro manager for our local Senior Center where I can share my passion for good food.
During the week, we serve beautiful food nutritionally balanced. Many times this is the only meal a senior will eat that day. We serve all walks of life from seniors living on the streets to seniors who are well off.
We make it fun, with a team of mostly senior volunteers, we set the tables with beautiful dishes, flowers, menus, hopefully, some jazz music soon, fruit and colorful table cloths. We work in the kitchen from food prep, cooking to washing all the dishes.
It’s not just about the food, it’s also the community. It’s a time when people can sit down and talk, sharing a meal together.
Jon and Maria, I feel like I have finally found my people and home. It’s the weekend, I miss them, and can’t wait for Monday. And the best job ever!
Thank you for being so open about your life and inspiring so many.
I feel like in some ways, I lost connection with both of you when I quit my blog over and over and the Creative Group changed.
But I wanted you to know how important you are to me. And I will never forget your support for my creativity and living an authentic life.”
Good for you, Janet, and thanks for that beautiful message. I needed it.
I so admire your bravery, creativity, and humanity. I think we both ended up somewhat on the same path, idealistic, confused and driven.
You never quit on life, never complained about it, never stopped searching for meaning.
I suspect we both ended up learning the same lesson. Nothing feels better than doing good in the right place and the right way. Your compassion, love of healthy food, and empathy for animals and people has led you home and given you your life back, and then some.
You made my day. Please start your blog up again.