Help Others to Open Their Heart — No Stone Left Unturned

There is a first time for everything. This week is the first time that I missed my self-imposed deadline. But friends, it was worth it!

I had planned a much overdue girl’s trip to Sedona, Arizona. Let me tell you, Sedona is the perfect girl’s trip getaway. We got out of Denver first thing Friday morning. Before the airport cancelled over 600 flights due to weather.

On our way home we got out of Albuquerque Monday night, on our flight that was delayed over an hour. Our flight was unable to leave Albuquerque until Denver had a chance to plow their runways. We flew home in heavy snow. From there we had a two hour slick and snowy drive home.

The universe must have known how much I needed that trip. Letting us get in and out of town within our small window of days we had planned. Was it good karma? Or was it the yoga pose I did at the vortex in Sedona?

Last week I wrote a bit about self care. And then I indulged. My girlfriends and I laughed so hard that our sides hurt. Again and again. There is no way I am going to wait that long before I take another girl’s trip. I already have my thinking cap on planning the next (someplace warm) trip.

I do have to tell you one of the amazing experiences we had. One of the attractions of Sedona is visiting a vortex. Some people believe that you will feel an energy. I know this sounds a bit woo-woo. If you read my past blog, “A Promise is a Promise”, I wrote about a program we tried with Travis. And that I know it sounded a bit woo-woo. And I defined woo-woo for you.

Let me define it again in case you missed that blog. “Relating to or holding unconventional beliefs regarded as having little or no scientific basis, especially those related to spirituality, mysticism or alternative medicine.

I’m not sure if it works or not, but I can use any extra energy that I can get. Our plan was to take a hike. So why not one with a vortex?

We hiked to the vortex site at Boynton Canyon. And then did a yoga pose for good measure. We sat there for a while. Taking in the warmth and beauty. The weather was perfect during our visit. While hiking back down we met Robert. He stopped us and gave us each a heart-shaped stone that he had carved.

He asked us to take the heart and to feel the love. And to pass that love on wherever we go. He told us that the love we feel and pass on will help to heal Mother Earth and help to heal the people that we come across. Help others open their heart. He said that the best stuff comes from the heart. He talked about changing the world one heart at a time.

If you have been following my blog, you already know that changing the hearts of others, if even just one at a time, is a central theme of mine. Like Travis’s swim lesson story in my blog, “Let Us Be the Ripples”.

So I thought this would be a good day to write another story about a Travis experience where I believe in the end a few hearts were touched by our constant advocating for our son.

Travis and three other young men that are members of his tribe took it upon themselves to find a men’s bowling league. Each of these four young men have varying levels of disabilities. I was proud. They went in and with the help of an employee of the bowling alley filled out the paperwork to have a team in the league. With very little help from me. They named their team TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). They also had a substitute bowler in the event one could not attend. This young man was Travis’s case manager at the time. When he bowled he was able to keep the team on track.

But when he did not bowl, the opposing team most likely had to take on that duty.

Travis finished the entire 32 week season. Which is quite the feat for him. Travis has great difficulty finishing anything that he starts. We were beyond proud. I do not know much about bowling. So I may not be explaining this entirely accurately. The league bowled with handicaps so that it could be competitive for everyone. Beginners and experts. So a beginner that achieves their average will defeat a bowler that scores less than their average.

Most every team in this particular league were very serious and talented bowlers. But at times would lose when bowling against TMNT.

Travis decided that he wanted to participate the following season. So I contacted the league secretary to find out when the paperwork needed to be completed and turned in. And was told that the league was becoming so popular that they might need to change their rules. That the league board was having a meeting the following week on a proposed change.

A team would need to have a minimum average to participate. I wanted to be sure that I understood, so I asked a few questions. So the league is not going to take teams on a first come first serve basis? And he said not if the change passed the vote of the board.

Again I wanted to be sure, so I asked, so basically what you’re saying is that Travis’s team would likely not be able to participate because they had the lowest average (without the handicap) of the teams that participated last season? He said that is correct if the board votes in favor of the change.

I felt that it was important to share what I was thinking. So I told this young man to tell the board before their vote that he spoke with Travis’s mom and shared with her the change they were considering. And that she responded that this change sounded a lot like, “Dis-crim-i-na-tion. That is exactly how I annunciated it. For effect.

The board decided not to consider the change. And Travis’s team bowled the next season. I showed up one night early in the season to watch the team bowl. I sat behind the lane. The team they were bowling against were phenomenal bowlers. One of their bowlers and I were engaging in some small talk when somehow the subject came upon Travis being on the autism spectrum. And I witnessed the young man have an “a-ha” moment.

In the telling of our story I’ve mentioned before that when you look at Travis you cannot tell he has any sort of different ability. And that is true of his fellow team members. But they all struggle with social skills. And if you’ve ever bowled in a league, you can imagine what that might look like. As far as taking turns with the other team and staying focused. Knowing when it is your turn.

I watched an immediate change in this young man. Watched him take the time to start to show TMNT some techniques. How to hold the ball. How to get it to curve. More patience with TMNT with turn taking. More patience with time issues.

Although the team secretary knew that Travis was on the spectrum he never shared the information with league members. I do not have a problem with that. But once I shared it, I saw a noticeable change in the opposing team that night. I’m sure the young man I talked to shared it with his team.

And that information had a ripple effect on many of the other teams.

Changing the world one heart at a time.

My intent was to write my blog for this week before I left for Sedona. But life got in the way. So my plan B was to write my blog and publish it when I got home from my trip on Monday night. But Mother Nature had other plans. With the weather issues I got home too late.

When I woke up this morning and I sat down to write I wondered if Mother Earth and Mother Nature conspired together so that I could share this story. My quote for today is the words that Robert shared. As best I remember with the help of my girlfriends.

I get that this may feel a bit woo-woo. And at first I thought we came across Robert because my caregiver heart was needing some rejuvenation. But then later we were shopping in Jerome, a small mining town about 30 miles from Sedona. And we shared our story of Robert and the hearts he gave us with the store owner. She knew him. She shared that he hikes that same trail often. We checked with “The Google”.

That’s what Tracy and I call Google. And we learned that Robert hikes that trail almost daily. Handing out his hearts. And offering his advice. Our only disappointment was that he came upon us as we were coming down the trail. We learned that when he gets to the vortex, he sits and plays his flute.

As I reflected, I realized that he was not there on that particular day because my heart was in need of rejuvenation. He hikes that trail almost daily because he knows that all of our hearts are in need of some rejuvenation.

“I would like to give you this heart-shaped rock. Bring the heart-shaped rock with you and share the love with the people around you. Feel the love and pass it on. Take the love wherever you go, in doing so we help heal Mother Earth and help heal people. Help others to open their heart, the best stuff comes from the heart. Change the world one heart to another. Change the world one heart at a time.” - Robert

Our Jeep tour guide took this awesome picture of us.

Girl’s trip masks. Two clear peel off, two mud style. We are trying to do the fish lip selfie look. It took us several minutes and several pictures before we could get one where we were not hysterically laughing.

Lunch at the Asylum Restaurant in Jerome, AZ. The story is this used to be an asylum.

Drinking beer at the Asylum Restaurant made us all a bit crazy!! Or was it just the beer? Or was it even the beer? Seriously, we did so much laughing that we had everyone around us laughing too!