Good bye Glo
One of the benefits of being a self employed massage therapist is that I can pick and choose who I want to work on. The result of that freedom is I have clients that I have been with for years, and with whom I share profound respect and friendship.
One of these special friends was a woman named Gloria. I nicknamed her my Glo girl because she did have a glow about her. Gloria’s love of life just seemed to shine from inside her. She was one of the greatest generation girls. She lived a long life, and in her stories she shared an intimate portrait of American life from the depression through WWII and on through to present day. She saw and learned so much from her experiences.
Her family were founders of and business owners in the local community where she grew up. Although they were affected by the Great Depression, her Grandparents did their best to provide jobs and even extended credit at their store to help people cope. She shared her clothing and her lunches with the other children in school. It was natural for her to be charitable and she continued to be so throughout her life.
She was also very patriotic and was proud of helping to run the local railway station during the war, in fact, she even learned Morse code to assist in this job . Gloria had a natural talent for music and loved to play piano for her friends and family. When I would arrive at her house for her massage, she would play for me while I set up my table.
What I loved the very most about her was her intellect. I took great joy in my discussions with her. We would share books and had similar feelings about religion and God. She told me that God designed me to do what I did. That my massage and personal training were a gift to her and the other people I cared for. It was lovely to feel what I did for her truly affected her and how she saw me as a person.
I cherished the respect she always showed me. Gloria never said anything disparaging about her own children. She didn’t compare their skills or income or make them out to be more or less than the other. She always bragged she had four great children and was so pleased that they were all kind and loving to her.
Like many woman of her generation, she reinvented herself many times over. She had an interesting career for many years and when she moved here she started a whole new life. Fear didn’t rule her, she expected to be welcomed and loved wherever she went and she was.
I had told her many times that I knew when she got to Heaven she would have a seat at the table right next to Jesus giving him loving advice. I expect that’s what she’s doing right now. I will miss Gloria every day, but my life has been enriched just by having known and loved her. That is her gift to me that I will carry in my heart as I go forward without my longtime client and dear friend.
Valentina Boonstra
