Birthday Reflection: It’s Just Stuff…

…except when it’s not. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, but the Officers and Crew of the USS Nautilus SSN 571 did give me a silver cup!

My baby cup ordinarily is perched on a shelf at my home in NC, next to Chief Daddy’s last portrait in uniform, but in honor of my birthday, I polished it and brought it to show my dad. While he was inspecting it, he recalled, “I told my boat chief, ‘My wife had the baby. I have a daughter,’ and then he asked for your name and when you were born and ordered the cup.”

More than four decades of birthdays, and this is one birthday present I have kept my entire life. When it comes to minimalising and decluttering, I read something about learning to let go of the things you don’t need or use and to be okay with letting go of things that you received as gifts, but my baby cup is in a different category from the gifts the minimalists have in mind.

I don’t know if my Keets will want to keep my baby cup for posterity or sentiment, or because Chief Daddy served on the Nautilus… Maybe I can direct my energy to haunt it after I die, hahaha (Yes, I know I sound morbid, but I’m under no delusion that I’ll remain in human form infinitely hahahaha) Or perhaps to the Keets it is just a cup, and they’ll stick it in my casket or incorporate it into a cremation urn… Who knows…

I wondered how many other cups are out there with the same inscription, but they’re not all the same. THIS one has MY name and MY date of birth on the other side. This cup is one of a kind for that reason, and it’s this stinking cup that whispered the encouragement that I’ve been seeking. My cup sat on the shelf and blended in with my daily sights, too familiar to speak to me until I took the time to listen. It reminded me of The Little Prince.

(the fox speaking to The Little Prince)

“To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world….”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Even if a hundred thousand other USS Nautilus baby cups are out there, each one is unique in all the world like the children who received them. Now and then I feel discouraged because I get an idea and then realize “it’s been done” or “it’s already out there”, but then I remember Ryan Levesque, Rebecca Campbell, Alana Fairchild, and others who are so different in how they share the same message – BE YOU.

It’s through sharing our passions and using our own unique experiences and voices that we inspire others. I’ve read the work of authors who are highly praised, but I couldn’t understand why people thought they were the best thing since Betty White. (See what I did there? haha) Some of them I just couldn’t feel a connection to or they seemed arrogant or aggressive, thus having an opposite effect on me. But I’m not going to criticize them or talk shit about their work because it simply wasn’t meant to resonate with me. Likewise, someone else may read the aforementioned authors who I could better relate to or feel connected to, but they may find those authors uninspiring or hokey… Whatever the case, we are all different, and I’m hopeful that someone will read a post and feel less alone and that what I share helps others in whatever ways they need.

From the feedback I receive, sometimes I’m good for a laugh or for a boost in motivation. Sometimes I help others reflect on their own situations. Sometimes I write or say things that inspire someone else’s confidence to try something new or get over a fear.

The feedback that really reinforces that I’m on the right path is when someone shares that they’re glad to know they’re not alone in their feelings or thoughts. I know how it feels to walk in the shoes of silence because I didn’t know who I could trust… because everyone walks around with some degree of mask… because sometimes it feels like my authenticity makes me more of a target than a beacon.

You know the sayings about how the right people get it? My hope for continuing to share is that the readers who get it will pass it on, and the readers who feel no connection will pass on it. And my point in sharing remains the same as when I started writing it.

Luceat lux vestra.