Be The Person You Were Meant To Be !!
It reminded me of my friend, Heather. Heather has played the bagpipes for as long as I have known her. She has a very successful career (not involving bagpipes) but, for me, she will be defined by her piping. She has traveled the world with various pipe bands and has piped in celebrities at just about any type of event. She is always in demand. Like most humans, she has had her ups and downs in life, but she has always had the constant of the bagpipes in her life. I think she has used them as motivation to heal when she needed to and she has used them as a vehicle for expressing her joy. She has used them as an excuse to visit her happy place, Scotland. She has used the bagpipes to create a social network wherever she goes.
I have seen many pipers on parade. I have seen many pipers in still pictures. No one but Heather smiles like Heather does when she pipes. I don't actually know how she makes music using her mouth and smiling, but, she does it. There is a lot of talk these days about being the best self you can be. I don't fully understand that. What I think I understand is that we should be the person who we were meant to be. It is obvious that Heather was meant to play the bagpipes.
However, there is one thing about people who play the bagpipes. They have to learn how to play the bagpipes. That is when I met Heather when she was learning.
Her family moved four doors down from me at the start of grade 10. We started walking to and from school together the first week of classes. Now, I don't really know what is involved in practicing the bagpipes. I also don't know if you have heard the bagpipes, but, they are loud. She may be a virtuoso today, but, she wasn't in grade 10. I think it was a challenge for her to find a time when practicing the bagpipes would be appreciated by her neighbours. She chose late Sunday afternoon.
I have to admit the first Sunday was a shock to us all. My parents knew that she was my friend so they blamed me for the noise. Like, that made sense. Neighbours started to gather outside to discuss this. My mother helpfully told people that the girl learning the bagpipes was my friend. Always nice to know that you have a mother that will throw you under the bus. The neighbours were bothered by the noise. Heather probably knows that part of the story.
But, here's the thing. When you are meant to do something, it is usually bigger than you know. Heather might not know this part of the story. The first two weeks, people were annoyed. But, after that, things changed. Everyone knew that Heather was meant to play the bagpipes. She didn't play outside in the winter. In the summer, our neighbourhood started having impromptu get-togethers in the backlane where we would listen to her practice. We brought our lawn chairs. On cooler spring and fall days, we met in our carport. We cheered her on and enjoyed when she piped. It got us together. It was pretty cool and it pained us when she made a mistake.
Many people never figure out who the person is that they were meant to be. Heather was lucky. She found out the person who she was meant to be and the universe supported her. ,
I have always thought that the person I was meant to be was to be the girl who looked at the world through rose coloured glasses. Figuratively, I want to see the good in the world, the good in all people, and the potential for even greater things. Literally, I have wanted to wear rose coloured glasses. The only problem is I don't wear glasses. On the weekend, at a garage sale, I found a pair of rose coloured sunglasses. I was thrilled. I could finally be the person I was meant to be. Of course, there is always an obstacle. My rose coloured glasses weren't sunglasses after all. They were prescription glasses and I couldn't even wear them for a second.
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