A SUMMER OF GRACE HEALS THE SOUL
http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?27043
After a brutal three years working at a job I can only describe
as the equivalent of placing my hand in a meat grinder, I took the proverbial
leap off a cliff. I quit my job and fell into the abyss of unemployment. This
action was precipitated by a call I received from my sister who had just found
out that my employer hired an armed guard to protect me at one of my business
meetings. She asked one simple question. “What are you doing?”
Our mother died in her 50s of breast cancer, leaving my sister
and me with a profound measuring tool for how life should be lived — to the
fullest. So I pushed away from the big desk and six figures. I felt liberated
the day I gave notice and panicked a day later. I decided to give myself a
present and return to my fifth grade summer, so to speak. I would go to
Martha’s Vineyard, spend the summer and live by two rules. I would assist
anyone who needed help with a project and I would accept all event invitations.
As a salute to my former grade school teacher, Sister Virginia
Mary, the following is a snapshot of what I did and what I learned on my summer
vacation:
Master artists can be found at the end of a wallpaper knife, a
carpenter’s finishing tool or a landscaper’s shovel. I had the opportunity to
participate in a house rehab project in Vineyard Haven and watched craftsmen
create with their hands things of beauty with deep resonating patterns and
lasting landscapes.
Working on a boat is hard and sometimes dangerous, and a
fisherman’s swordfish stories and hot cup of lobster bisque in Menemsha after
working in the cold and rain is a priceless gift.
Fear of aging is foolish. When I filled in at a clothing store
in Edgartown, the owner, who was much older, not only sold the most unique and
beautiful clothes, she unpacked boxes, ran stairs and sorted items like a woman
half her age.
Sirens do exist. I became good friends with a beautiful woman
who was a boat builder by trade, a sculptor by education and baker by trial.
You can hear lectures from renowned experts in small libraries.
If you need something all you have to do is keep looking at the
side of the road and it will eventually turn up. Everything from a free bag of
charcoal to a solid oak table.
You can write the first 100 pages of a novel.
A stranger can show kindness in many ways through a beach pass
given to someone met at an art show, patient, friendly reminders of Island
events sent via text, or folding your umbrella while you sleep, unaware that it
almost blew down the beach.
I am not related to but share a last name with a large Island
family. As a child I had sneaked onto one of their properties to fish and swim,
a fact I admitted to two family members at an art opening in Edgartown while
drinking a dark and stormy. They laughed and said it was okay because, after
all, I was family. A Moore from the same tree only a different branch. Then
they added that I could use the beach near their house any time.
An old summer love can make you feel 16 again. And his large
dimples, easy smile and kind heart are like a fine wine that ages well with
years.
The protection, wonder and comfort of a child’s tree house can
be recreated in an upper room of an Oak Bluffs house surround by trees.
Now here I am squarely in August, almost done with my summer and
turning my eye to the daunting task of finding a job in a rough economy. I am
reminded of a Chinese saying I learned from a fellow lawyer at a firm in New
York. Loosely translated, it means: even the best buffets must come to an end.
But as I prepare to fold my napkin, push away from the buffet table and walk
into the dark fog of a job hunt, the one thing I am sure of is that I am
grateful for the opportunity I had to recreate my fifth grade summer. I am
thankful for the experiences the Island afforded me and blessed to have met so
many wonderful people.
The
Secrets of Martha's Vineyard Blog contains helpful information and stories
about Martha's Vineyard by The Larrier House a private rental on Martha's
Vineyard. The blog is based on an article written by Sharon-Frances Moore
and published by the Vineyard Gazette. [Sharon-Frances Moore former President,
Executive Director, advisor to non-profits, Board of Directors, and organizations
as it pertains to event planning, fundraising, community engagement, and labor
and public relations, legal matters: University of Maryland New York Chapter, University
of Maryland Scholarship Committee, City of National City Association, Tribeca
Organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., Owens Corning, U.S. Senate; Network
for Women, Hospice; Boys & Girls Club, various New York City theater
groups, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church, R.N.C Republican National
Committee, Democratic National Committee DNC, S.E.I.U., SEIU unions]
