A Shift in Perspective

Let me share a personal experience to give you an idea how powerful a shift in perspective can be.

My mom passed away a year ago after being sick for a little over a month. It was a devasting loss for me, as well as the rest of the family. She lived in the house next door to us and even though it was a strained relationship, we were very close, seeing each other just about every day.

During her time in the hospital she would ask me to go into her cupboard ( a hand-made wall unit in her tiny bedroom) and retrieve various medications and personal items. I would walk into her room, open the cupboard, and sift gently through her things until I found what I needed.

After her death my daughter Alexa was in need of Advil. We had none left, and I told her that grandma had a ton in her bedroom cupboard. Alexa disappeared next door and came back with the bottle of pills - as well as a story.

"Did you see what's in grandma's closet," she asked with her jaw parted and eyes wide.

"Like what? What do you mean?" I responded.

Apparently my mother had recorded every meaningful date throughout the last 20 years on the interior wall of the wooden cupboard with a black magic marker. Everything.

The date her brother died. The day she got her dog. My wedding date, my kids' birth dates, my sister's divorce, the deaths of her mother and mother-in-law. The day my father passed, my uncle's cancer diagnosis, surgery dates, and the list goes on. The documented dates filled the side wall of the cupboard from top to bottom. And all these years I had never seen one mark.

I thought about how that could be possible, and it amazed and scared me at the same time. It was my perspective. I just had to step two more inches to the right and that wall would have been visible to me. All these years.

I finally knew a part of my mother I didn't know existed. That these dates meant something to her, that she cared enough to write them down.

Just two inches to the right. The power of perspective.