Brilliant in Balboa Park

I hope to touch your soul…and inspire you to see through a new set of lenses.
~Stephanie Clair, Artist

Dare I say that I don’t know what to with these sunglasses. They are a gift, but more than that, they are a capsule. I wear them in memoriam to a woman’s soul. Oh so morbid, but really I’m not trying to be. To Sarah: my soul sister in spirit. May you share you special vision with me. May we connect in some mysterious way via your wondrous and (may I add) stylish Michael Kors sunglasses.

I first wore these classes on a New Years Eve walk. It was partly cloudy outside and the sun was just brilliant enough to wear sunglasses. Steve, my friend and walking partner, guided us from Banker's Hill to the Cacti and Rose Gardens.

I didn’t put them on at first. I was very tentative about wearing them and wanted it to be the perfect moment to transition from my vision to Sarah’s. Did I have expectations? I actually did!  I said a small prayer before that went something like this:

Dear Sarah, 

May your vision be mine. May I see from a new perspective. May you experience what I am experiencing… somehow.

Your supposed soul sister, 
Annie

And with that, I slid them off the top of my head and over my squinting eyes. It was just as we were crossing over the Laurel Street bridge. I didn’t tell Steve my internal goings on. He was happily chatting about the latest goings on at the Library where he worked and his latest venture to Palm Springs with Duane, his partner. Duane is also and my former co-worker which is how I met Steve. Ok so now that we’re all friends here… please follow me to my next pivotal moment.

The glasses are magnificently large and I happily discovered that they’re polarized. When I put them on, the sky turned blue… ok yeah… well a DEEPER blue! Like this ocean, navy blue color. As I moved my eyes downward towards the earth, the plants and structures were bathed in orangey color. So no, as you can already tell, I haven’t owned a pair of polarized glasses before (at least that I can remember). I looked around like I had never seen Balboa Park before! People, dogs, the reflecting pond, and the giant fountain that reminded me that I had to go to the restroom.

It was all new and I’ve been going to this place since I was a wee baby. So here I am, 28 years later, and I’m looking at things fresh. Oh thank you! Something miraculous is already happening. Like many lovely experiences, it came to an end in less than 5 minutes. Yes, I’ll take full responsibility. You know what I was doing to halt this beauteous experience? Thinking. My mind wandered to a nagging thought about a guy I was dating. Oh ladies you know the one: should I be with him or should I find greener pastures?

Brilliant! Self sabotage. Why couldn’t I just be in the moment for once and enjoy it?! Then it got worse from there. I was beating myself up for not being in the moment.  You’re always thinking about something else, you’re never enjoying the now, why can’t you just enjoy things and not get caught up in you mind all the time?

Oh shush!!! I yelled to myself in response to, uh, myself. For a moment, things were still and I stood at the edge of the cacti garden overlooking the canyon facing east. Finally, a moment of peace and I was in it. In it like a child in a kiddy pool on a hot summer day. Just splashing around. Woohoo! And just like that, it was gone. (Thank you Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects)

Cacti and more cacti, and eventually we made it to the rose gardens. That was only after a huge blockade of wedding attendees, groomsmen, and bridesmaids paraded right in front of us. Which actually made us take another turn (in the British sort of way) in the desert garden.

So Steve and I were watching the beautiful wedding which spurred a conversation about marriage. My cousin was getting married on the 2nd which I was very excited about. We were going doing the flowers at my parent’s house with the entire clan coming over to help out. Bouquets, centerpieces, boutonnières (oh thank you spell check), and little bouquet-itos to hang on church pews. Steve politely listen as I described the ordeal-to-come. I knew it well because that’s what we did for my sister’s wedding two years ago. We both downed out miniature can of pineapple juice we brought from the house for refreshment. Back across the bridge, past the giant fountain that really that reminded me that I had to go to the restroom, and over the Laurel street bridge.

Thanks Sarah. Until next time!

Through Sarah's Eyes

Preface:
I turned 28 on December 18th this last year. In my nearly 3 decades on this planet, I have learned that death is perhaps the only thing that is for sure. Although I have heard this a million times before and inside I hear a voice yelling “ You’re being cliché!”… but there’s a reason why I brought it up. This last year, two of my uncles passed away as well a dear friend of the family. They shall be sorely missed, and I can’t think of a more important time in my life to take notice of the little things. Those tiny little moments, those rare and precious gifts that friends, parents, cousins, and even complete strangers give you. These gifts of kindness, love, selflessness, and even gratitude are collected in a shared memory box so that when this life is over, we can take that light into the next and the great beyond.

How this blog began:
On December 29, 2009 my friend, AJ, gave me a pair of Michael Kors sunglasses for Christmas. Rather, she handed them to me and asked if I wanted them. I stared at her. Ok, what woman in her right mind would be handing me a pair of gorgeous designer sunglasses that she supposedly doesn’t want.

What happened to them? Were they a gift from an ex-boyfriend? Are they somehow cursed like the Hope Diamond? Did they pass through someone’s body? So yeah, I asked her these questions. To the last one she answered, “No but close. If you take them, you can’t give them back.”

After moment of silence and some quick contemplation… I said yes. What could be so bad that I would turn these babies down?

AJ took a deep breath, and then told me the story.

“They were my friend’s sunglasses. She passed away this year from breast cancer. Her name was Sarah, and she was my soul sister.”

AJ tapped her head and chest with her open palms.

“I can tell that if you met her you would be too. I have their case and everything.”I asked her why she didn’t want them.

“Oh no! I do, but it’s just too emotional to have them around. I see them and it’s too much for me. After she passed, her husband sent me a box of her things and said to take what I wanted give away the rest. In his note, he said that when I wear them it would give me ‘Sarah-Vision’ guaranteed.

I felt honored, but I didn’t know this woman. What is Sarah Vision? I started thinking about all of the cool places she went; the beach, outdoor cafes, or a tropical vacation island. I started to think about what she looked like. Petite, cute short hair, very bubbly personality, active, hard to miss in a crowded room.

So this is what I know about Sarah:
She had good taste in sunglasses.
She had breast cancer and passed away in 2009.(I’m guessing she was pretty young.) She was survived by a husband.
She wanted her things to be passed along.
She was a soul sister to AJ.
And very importantly... we would have been soul sisters too.

Maybe it’s not too late?

If these glasses give the wearer ‘Sarah Vision’, whatever that may be, I’m bound to discover a new perspective. Immediately, inspiration hit. I have been dying (pardon the pun) to write a Blog, but I didn’t know what my topic would be. This gave me quite a lot to think about. I see this as an adventure and a great story yet to be written.

So here are my 3 questions:
What kind of changes can I make in my life seeing from another perspective? What would my soul sister like me to do with these fab glasses? Who can I share this experience with?

And there it is…

~Through Sarah's Eyes~