The Basket Lady

Today is Lisa Marie Presley’s birthday -- just a little fun fact to jump-start February the first in 2013. Hopefully, she won’t get all shook up when Elvis sends her lots of teddy bears from Rock 'n Roll heaven.

Walking down the path of life toward Present Street, Basket Lady will invariably meet up with a complete stranger who will start up a conversation about “their things from the inside out.”

A delightful 91-year-old lady that I met along the way, Jennie Virgin, whose eyes sparkle kindness, whose tender hands offer comfort, and a heart that dearly loves her George and family, had some things that she wanted to share from the inside out.

Jennie has seen the world change a lot during her lifetime and recalled a Christmas experience as a little girl.

Long before there was indoor plumbing, electricity, or even the idea of a flat screen TV, the children were expected to help out with the daily chores and only after they were done, were they allowed to play outdoors with whatever thing they could find like a fallen tree branch for a stick or other objects of nature for their “pretend” toys.

Jennie considered it a very successful and happy Christmas if she got one of the old plastic stockings (like the kind you buy onions in at the grocery store), with pieces of fruit and maybe some pickup sticks or a small ball for playing jacks -- those stockings were highly prized. She wasn’t complaining about her circumstance -- no, quite the opposite, she expressed gratitude.

Jennie met Dot Sanchas along the way in her life’s travels and their friendship was strong, bonded together by their mission to help those in need.

Inside out, most people approach success from the outside in. But to achieve real success, you have to do it from the inside out. Jennie has focused her life on her character and that’s powerful. The trappings of external improvements are merely cosmetic and will quickly fade away.

Jennie, from the land of the wind spirits comes a blessing for you, inside out.

May you be blessed

With all those things that will not only

Give you joy

But also enable you to bless others

By you kindness.

Friend, live in the present.

Be fully alive to each moment.

Show someone a kindness today. We miss your kindness every day, Dot Sanchas! Until then, smile and live in the present.