The Soroptimist Club

When I was a very young girl living in a small town, my father belonged to the Soroptimist Club. (A business club a the time for all professionals, today mainly for women).  

He would attend the meetings and would come home..well…happy!  I had recently learned the word hippopotamus in school and wondered if Soroptimist was similar so I asked, he chuckled and explained that an Optimist is someone who sees the best in things.  He is able to look at the world as a positive place and the challenges as opportunities to make it better. And a Soroptimist is a super optimist.

 His club met to resolve the town’s problems in a positive way like designing the park so that it would be a fun and safe place for little children to play or making certain there were good books in the library for us to read. 

I liked the idea of being a Soroptimist and I decided that very day that I wanted to be one.

I have to admit though that finding joy and being an optimist, let alone a sorpotimist since Dale died has taken a lot of emotion and time and genuine effort.

I’ve done a pretty good job at patching my broken heart as I’ve journeyed the long road without him and a few days ago I finally felt strong enough to enter the garage and stand and look at the tall metal shelf filled with big plastic file boxes many of them labeled “Dale”. I sighed and hesitated just long enough to determine if I was strong enough and then whispered…”Ok, Dale tell me which one!” One seemed to stand out to me so I pulled and pulled and shifted things and pulled again and out it came.  I carried it to the house and plopped it onto the table. It was heavy. It was sealed with rainbow colored duct tape. I remember sealing it up as I packed things up after he died thinking…”Someday I’ll be able to do this”. Once again I hesitated, was this the “someday”?  I decided it was and quickly pulled off the tape before I could change my mind.

A dusty file smell permeated the room. Old papers, old treasures and then I saw a large file with dozens of cds. Cd’s he had hired to be made of all of our family and ancestor photographs. Thousands of photos! It was a hidden treasure.  Which one first! Everything was labeled by number, few by name so each will be a fun discovery…but wait…there is a silver one that isn’t labeled at all.  I decided to check that one out first so that I could label it or throw it away if it was blank or unnecessary. I opened the cd slot on my computer and popped it in. Whirring Whirring Whirring and then….a scratchy title…it was our wedding video from 1971!  It had been transferred to this dvd from old 8 mm video film!  For an hour I sat at my computer entranced and the amazing thing is that I didn’t cry, I didn’t feel the pain of his death, I didn’t hurt….I simply FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM ALL OVER AGAIN!.

This wasn’t just another Band-Aid on my heart it felt like…like…Healing!

L. Tom Perry is credited with saying “Enduring to the end is definitely not a Do-It-Yourself project”. With a great amount of gratitude and humility I have arrived at this point with steady and sustained progress with the help of my compassionate family and friends and in every lonely moment of every passing day as so beautifully written in Psalms (147:3): “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”

 I am blessed.  I am healing and I am definitely…still in love with my best friend.