Leaning in

by

Patti Dickinson

Last night Wood and I went to the Yanni concert at Sprint Center. Yanni is one of the reasons I don't blow the blood pressure cuff right off my arm when I go for my physical. He calms me. We had great seats, in a just a little more than a half-full Sprint Center. (We got those good seats b/c my spouse has learned to work the system. You join the fan club. That removes the option of banging-your-head-on-the-ceiling seats.) Anyway, seats good enough that we could count freckles. Halfway through the concert....through music that moved me to tears (I know, everything moves me to tears) I had a lightbulb moment. Yanni is a man that leans into his passion. Puts himself a little bit off balance to make connection with the soul of the audience. And I started doing a mental checklist of people I know who do that same kind of leaning.

Joe Rodgers does. He trims our trees. Oh, he doesn't just cut out the dead stuff and leave a mess in the yard that the mower will be choking on for the next couple of weeks. No --- Joe is an artist. Trees are his passion. He walks around the yard. Index finger of his right hand, vertical over his chin and lips. No hack job here. Our trees are artistically manicured. He worked diligently on a tree of ours....an old hackberry. Joe thought it was about 150 years old. Sat right in our front yard, framing the house. Joe gave that tree a lot of attention each time he came. And he always said that it wasn't thriving anymore, but he wouldn't take it down. Said he had it cabled just right and if it ever did come down, it would fall into the driveway, not onto the house. He was right. It fell into the driveway. But darn it, it's where the 1981 navy blue Volvo station wagon was parked. Hit it in the middle of the roof and the car was shaped like a V.

I know a para at the middle school where Margaret goes to school. A retired fellow. He is at the front door when the handicapped bus arrives each morning. He wheels in the four or five kids who are in wheelchairs. He leans into his day too. Cheerful, happy to see those kids, and they light up when they see him. Yup, he touches some souls.

Mike, the sacker at the Hen House. Shines from within. Asks about the kids, my husband, helps me out and seems surprised every time I tip him (I have a rule about tipping. If the sacker doesn't talk to me on the way to the car, I tip $1. If he talks, I double it. Mike costs me a little more...but his happy demeanor is such a refreshing diversion. Yup. Mike leans into his job, too. Sacks those groceries, and talks all the way to the car.

Would you share a "leaning in" person that you know?