I love to travel. I love the journey almost as much as the destination. For whatever reason, I find myself captured by imagining the lives of the people I encounter while getting from place to place. If we are driving, I can’t help but imagine what it is like to be a local in any and every town we pass through. In my lifetime, I have lived in three states. Each has its own flavor, customs, and types of people. Math is NOT my thing, but I enjoy considering statistically how wildly different every single town on the planet must be. Maybe that is why my imagination tends to operate in overdrive anytime I am away from home. There are countless storylines to be considered.

     As I get older, I spend more time thinking about life. I notice more details while I am about the business of people watching from place to place. It seems I don’t need to travel to get caught up in wondering about the lives of others. There are piles of very interesting people right here in my own town.   

     Another thing I am especially drawn to is “cute little old people”, as I call them. They capture my imagination quicker than just about anything. When I see an obviously super old, hunched over couple holding hands my insides instantaneously melt and I become useless. When I see an old man eating alone, or shuffling across a store, my imagination is captured. I want to know their stories. I want to know what drives them.

     I shared before about the book written by a friend from the gym called A Story Worth Telling.  It is the story of her grandmother’s life. Lemme tell ya… it’s SOME STORY!! Her story is one of the most inspiring stories of courage that I have ever heard. I have had the honor in the last couple of weeks of meeting Setsuko. She has been coming into the gym to watch what we do. I have had a hard time not going total “fan girl” and just completely forgetting what I am supposed to be doing at the gym when she is there. I want to just sit with her and listen to stories. I don’t speak Japanese, though, so I stick to CrossFit.

     Setsuko is 97. She is frail. To look at her, you would never know what she has lived through. She sits in a wheelchair, covered in layer upon layer of clothes and blankets to keep her warm. She observes with a stoic expression. I was guilty, at first, of feeling a bit sorry for her. That is my go-to feeling when I observe people in that condition. It wasn’t long before she changed my mind.

     At one point during the first workout she had come to watch, Setsuko caught my eye. I was doing pull-ups. I noticed that Setsuko had her arms stretched out. The more I watched, I realized that while her granddaughter was doing pull-ups, she was lifting and bending her arms in a show of solidarity. Later, when her granddaughter was rowing, I watched her row her arms for the entire time Jen was rowing. I melted. It was the sweetest thing I may have ever seen. She behaved very much the same the next time she was at the gym. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

     If I live to be 97, I want to be like Setsuko. I want to live full-on until the Lord calls me home. I want to be unimpressed by my limitations. I want to do what I want to do. I know from the stories her granddaughter tells that she is just as spicy as she is sweet. That makes me smile from ear to ear. I want to be like her. I want to have the strength to finish well. I want to go out with a bang, not a dull thud.

     The lesson I am learning about life is success looks like lots of different things. Where you live, what you look like, where you were born, the health of your bank account or the level of your education will not determine the extent of your success unless you let it. AND, what looks like success for you probably isn’t what looks like success for your neighbor.

     We all get the honor of our own journey. Every journey will have success, failure, heartache, joy, victory, and defeat. I would be willing to bet that if the life story of each person were written there would be things others could aspire to and things to be warned against. My challenge to both you and me, as we encounter people near and far, is to be gracious to one another. Look beyond the superficial, and know that there has been a journey. When we get the opportunity we should sit and listen to people. We might be surprised to hear a nugget of truth that will positively alter our course for the rest of our lives.  I am SO GAME for that!