Jaki Jean on Why Waking up to a Post Makes a Difference

Some stories you write because they begin in a dream.

Some stories you write because they begin with a great line.  Usually not your own.

In my first writing course at UH, James Cleghorn said:  In dreams begins responsibility.

In that same course, Dr. Cleghorn introduced the class to Gabriel Garcia Marquez & told us that if we never read any other book, we should read One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Over the last forty years, I have remembered that dreams are the beginning & no one who wants to write can do it without reading One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Today I write a story for someone who never appeared in my dreams, has given me some great opening lines, who has read One Hundred Years of Solitude, & who I know mainly through Facebook & her posts.

We once shared the same time & space & people, a long day ago.  But our paths never crossed.   In El Paso, we had people in common, but never one another.  I recognized her name in posts on Facebook.  I liked what she posted.

I thought, I should know this person.  I should know this woman.  I recognize this name.

Reaching back into somewhere in that space & time, I came to remember her name.  I could not explain the reason or how, but she still allowed me to be her friend on Facebook.

After viewing enough Facebook posts, I now know through & with whom her name was so familiar.

That familiar yet elusive name grew into this amazing woman, an activist, a community leader.  I kept thinking how did I miss this person ?

And then Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast.

And in its devastation, it took the life her beloved niece.

She was very open & frank in her posts after that loss.  In her grief, she brought all who read her posts closer.

While still grieving over the loss of her niece, she lost her mentor, friend, downstairs neighbor & brother-in-law, her niece’s father.

How she felt, how she moved toward recovery, is her story to tell, not mine. 

If I were writing it, I would say that her heart & spirit were broken by the loss of such incredibly loved ones & a Texan stepped in & offered her time & space to heal.

And that she is still healing.  With that Texan.

But, as I said, it is her story to write, not mine.

The other day, she posted that she used to think  she could make a difference.

I wanted to fly across space & time & sit across from her to explain that of course, she made a difference. 

She still makes a difference.

In my life, in the lives of those she worked for, in the lives she continues to influence.

I write this story, not because of a dream or an opening line or even in honor of One Hundred Years of Solitude.  I write it because people who matter, people who make a difference, need to know that their efforts were & continue to be important.

Every morning, I open Facebook & look to see what those I have chosen as cyber friends, & those who have allowed me to be their cyber friend, post.  Every morning, I am challenged & inspired.  Every morning, I laugh.  Every morning, someone makes a difference, someone firestarts me.

Especially that woman living in Mexico with a Texan & too many beige walls.

You continue to make a difference, Cate Poe.  I promise you that, Amiga.

Both photos absolutely usurped from Cate Poe.