The first thing that hit me, after I made that promise to David, was that I don't know what to do!! What should I do & how am I going to see that memorial in Arizona? - way on the opposite side of the United States!! How can I justify a flight to Arizona & time away from work - just to see a memorial. I heard my voice in my head say "that's morbid! What will people think?"

My mind started to create excuses & justifications. Then It (I should say 'I') started to make myself wrong. The thoughts running thru my head were "that's not nice" and then it became "what kind of person are you?"

Then my thoughts got very nasty! I even thought, "he is dying - he will never know. Let him rest in peace believing that the memory of Virginia will live on..." He can rest in peace & nobody will know any different.

Swoooosh! and that is when it hit me - I will know!

You know that expression - "my life flashed before my eyes." Well my life did just that! I saw my future as someone who says things that I do not mean - therefore what I mean did not matter.

That's when I saw the box I have been living inside of...

I am determined to live a powerful, created life! Not one that is limited.

So the quest begins!

I started to think of ways to see the memorial. Flying there for the day; convincing my family to take a road trip & vacation there; well you get the idea. Finally I thought "I can't wait till I have the time to go on a vacation. How about contacting someone who lives there. All I need is a picture!"

Needless to say, I tried more then 100 names & was ready to give up on my quest. Feeling defeated, I decided to browse for photographs that would inspire me. I open up a website & was inspired by the first line on Roy Pope's about me page...

And to top it all off, he is right in Apache Junction, AZ! Something inside of me knew, in that moment, that he would be the one to help me fulfill my promise. So I sent out an email request to him!

Photo courtesy of roypopephotography.com

A few weeks go by with no reply & I started to feel that this is another one of those rejections. My heart sank thinking that it was going to be impossible to get this done. I started to doubt myself again & started thinking "what makes you think that you can get someone to help you - across the continent - to keep your word?"

I hear the Ding of my email program - like usual. I open the email & see its an email from Roy AND it has an attachment - No Way! Roy has attached a file! My heart is pounding in disbelief! I can't believe it - he attached a photograph - the photograph you see above! His email was simply three lines ending in "Thank You" - wow! he's thanking me!

I was the one asking for the favor and he's thanking me. This caught me by surprise! I had to know what was present for him that he is thanking me. He replied:

We emailed a few times & in the last email he went on to explain something profound...

Wow! out of what I thought was a favor for me, he was touched, moved and inspired to take the picture! I now see that having the magic of an "outside the box" life can be had simply out of me being real, expressing what is present for me and allowing another to experience that - even if 99% of the people don't agree with me.

This experience has allowed me to learn that out of me wanting to fulfill my purpose, I can touch another's heart and have allow them to be inspired. You just never know what you can cause in the life of another.

At the time David contacted me, I did not see it this way, but I now see David's need to keep the memorial and his memory of Virginia alive, even after his passing. He reached out because he did not want the memory to fade. He was passing down the story of his struggle, heartache and love.

All he wanted was someone to hear his story and to keep the folklore alive - keeping who Virginia was for him - from ever fading. In doing so, David has inspired me and others to live the life we want to live.
 

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