My friend Carol Peters used to talk about her dream of one
day finding a community of people – a utopian ideal of men and women, young and
old, from every faith, every race, every different background, all learning and
growing together. She found her community in her spiritual fellowship, and I
often think of her profound gratitude for that as I contemplate my own
community, the one that surrounds my work life here at the Boston Tea Room.
For a while I had been taking a back seat at work; I have a
phenomenal staff of smart and talented people who can handle any situation, and
that left me free to do some work from home, focus on long-term planning, and
do some long overdue catching up with our accounting and bookkeeping backlog
(not my favorite work duties, by a long shot). So it was a relief a few weeks
ago when a staffing change-up required that I get more “hands-on” in the shop.
Suddenly I was back where I belong, front and center greeting our visitors and
clients each day, having conversations about their families, careers,
challenges and victories, dusting shelves, organizing books, and fussing over
displays of crystals and herbs. In short, I am back in my element.
Today we were so blessed with people stopping in to our
little shop that I ended up working right through my meditation session,
ringing up sales and even getting to snuggle for a while with the two-month-old
grandson of one of my long-time clients. Even as I type this, I can smell a
little of his spit-up that got left behind on my shirt. Luckily, a volunteer
generously offered to take over the meditation session for our fifteen grateful
meditators, most of whom came down afterward to have a cup of tea and some
conversation. This is what I truly love about this shop: the amazing people
from every walk of life who come in and share their energy, enthusiasm, and
passions with us. I won’t pretend I didn’t come home exhausted, but it was that
good kind of tired that follows time well spent, and recognition that, just
like my friend Carol, I have found my people. And THAT is what life is all
about.
