Mobile, AL: Today's been one of those days where every little thing is bothering me. People are being stupid, mistakes are being made and if one more person asks me to get them an autograph...
I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I walk away from situations that make me just f*ing mad. I try to breathe deep and shake it off, but it just doesn't seem to be working.
Since I can't really focus on anything work-related at the moment (and since my work day is nearly over), I open up my iTunes, put on my headphones and being to play a recorded interview I conducted with Tracey, a
Thistle Farmer, on Wednesday. For the TF newsletters, I have interviewed some of the women to get a little history on where they came from, how they got into the lifestyle of drug abuse and prostitution and what steps did they take to get out and get to Magdalene.
I am listening to Tracey's voice as she describes the memories of her past: visions of her father abusing her mother, selling her body in exchange for money to support a habit she thought she had control over, facing a potential sentence of 25 years in jail -- only to find a healing and forgiving community in the nick of time. It's almost too much for one person to handle in one lifetime. And yet, her laughter, her humility, her gratefulness ring through my ear buds and I am in awe of her survival.
It's hard to summarize her story into a few paragraphs for a newsletter, but so important for others to hear. I just want to convey how much she had to go through, how far she has come and how lovely she really is.
Then I realize everything else that has been bothering me all day is truly stupid. THIS is what life is about. To Tracey -- I am grateful for your openness with me and for your ability to help me truly see.