Honesty

I am super inspired right now. Usually I think of myself as fairly honest, especially in the past few years. Sometimes I make up some really good tall tales, though...I smile to myself as I remember the day I convinced my coworkers that one of the Russian figure skaters was mowed down in the ARC parking lot by the other pre-school teacher and couldn't compete in the winter games. Sometimes, just sometimes, you really can't believe what I say. But when it comes to real lying, life becomes really, really tricky. I have had my share of complicated lies surrounding my eating disorder, but part of giving that up has involved me learning to be honest in all areas of my life. But this week I was totally caught off guard by a friend of mine and have learned a valuable lesson about the truth.

(as usual, names have been changed)

I went out for coffee with Mariah and her cute little kids this week. We met at McDonald's and let the little ones play while we visited and caught up. It was great to see her. Once the kids started to wind down, she packed them up and we said goodbye and went our own ways. The next morning I got an early phone call. Mariah was on the other end and sounded very upset. Naturally my first thought was that one of the kids was sick or hurt or that there was an emergency. So my heart started pounding. But once she started talking I started to smile...She was apologizing from the bottom of her heart for something she had said the day before that wasn't quite honest. To me it wasn't a big deal what she had said. It doesn't even matter what it was exactly. But I was totally, 100% touched by her apology and the fact that she was asking forgiveness from me for the sake of moral and good conscience. It reminded me of a time when we didn't know what lying was. We were only 1 or 2 years old at the time, but we only knew how to tell the truth. How refreshing, relieving, and simple life must have been, hey? It seems so pure to me.

For the record, Mariah was beyond "forgiven". I put that word in quotation marks because it wasn't necessary in my opinion, but for her, saying sorry was something she just needed to do in order to sleep well. She isn't a child, but she has the heart of one; she wants to be pure and real and would never want to hurt somebody. That is beautiful. Totally inspiring and challenging.

I know I have already committed to you guys to always be honest when you ask me how I am, but I am going to take it a step further and be as honest as possible as a new challenge. And I challenge you to do the same. It will be hard work, but maybe one day it will come naturally. I can't promise to stop telling tall tales though. You guys like it, anyways. Keeps things interesting, right?! ; )

Have a wonderful week everybody. Hope you're feeling cozy warm amongst the pouring rain that has drenched BC today.

~C~