This is a memory that sort of defines why I believe some of the things that I do...get a cuppa joe and enjoy the story...
If you have read my stories you know that I lost my friend who died in 1996. I claim that she has connected me to heaven. This is one of the stories that happened to me in 1997 and because of her, I was awakened.
My friend Re died leaving to mourn her loss, my brother (her ex-husband) and their two small children, my niece and nephew, not to mention her third child, my unrelated niece who I also adore. I was a rep for a fashion house at the time and enjoyed trunk shows quarterly, had awesome (and beautiful) women as clients. I got to play with clothes for a living and it was so much fun! With this tragedy hitting our family, I decided to do a fund raiser to help my only sibling with whatever expenses he had to cover now as a single parent. They were divorced, it is true, but they still loved each other very much. I thought it would be a good idea to have a fashion show fundraiser...we would honor Re, we would make donations to help pay for tuition etc. It would help a bunch of us grieve and comfort our broken hearts. My friends were amazingly supportive and women from Re's company volunteered to model too.
I made arrangements for a luncheon at a local club and I spent three months planning it, through many tears and many details to occupy my mind. I scheduled with my company to have the whole Spring '97 line on hand and I had the people fill me in on the details of their sizes, etc. I eventually would call them and tell them what shoes to bring in what color and in what style. The only remaining problem was, I had never hosted a fashion show in my new career and I had never run a fund raiser. I was at our "Studio" which was our show room for the line in a nearby town one day, studying the line and trying to match up the clothes with the people who had offered to be involved. My friend Helen dropped by. She was also a rep and had a different way about her. Many of the reps did not care for her but I thought she was nice (I just like everybody, I think). I was teary-eyed and she said let's just sit down and talk...we sat on the floor in a heap of these gorgeous, a- bit-pricey line of clothes.
I shared my tale of woe. I gave her the details and the reasons why I was doing this. She did not try to discourage me, she just patiently pointed out that I had overlooked many, many details. I had no idea of (for instance) what these women looked like, I had a size 10 suit and a size 10 volunteer but I did not know if her body type would work, or even if the person would like the outfit. But it wasn't about that. I learned so much that day.
Finally, Helen said that the final detail is that you have to create an actual ending for the show, a way to connect the runway with the audience and you have to give the audience a way or reason to applaud. I was stressed but I said well, this is a different kind of event and so I will just say thank you on the microphone after my cassette tape was done playing (yes, I said cassette tape). I spent hours making that tape so that the music was good and a nice walking tempo. I got song suggestions from my bro and Re's brother and mother to make it personal. It is a great tape.
Helen suggested that I have a big bouquet of long stem flowers up on the podium and that at the end of the show, each model would come out and take a flower and present it randomly to guests as they took one final walk around the show room. I really kind of forgot about the ending and/or the need to have one. I bought a ton of pink carnations and set them up as Helen said to do, after all she had many more years of experience. I was relieved too because she offered to come and be a "dresser" as did many of my coworkers. Phew! I wasn't nervous, but I also didn't know better....
The big day came in early February and it was so much fun!! Three months of grieving and planning and grieving some more had done us all some good.
The lunch was fabulous. The music was spot on personal. The models were gorgeous and every single outfit FIT. The one blouse that did not fit was for my friend whose boobs were too big for it, she unbuttoned it, turned it around and put it on backwards, threw on the jacket and nobody knew the difference! My hairdresser came and did hair and her friend did everyone's make-up. We thought we were worthy of NYC...we drank a lot of champagne that afternoon.
At the end of the show...the models lined up for the final song that the kids had picked out themselves....Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion. Truth be told, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I suddenly remembered the flowers and Helen nodded and as I introduced each model's name, the model would take a carnation and hand it to one of our guests saying "thank you for coming, it means a lot". We raised a few thousand dollars, we comforted a lot of people, and we had fun. Re would have loved it big time.
Two months later...I was back at the "Studio" working and Helen came by. The event was long over, but I thanked her again for all of her help and I said, ya know...people that were there are STILL talking about the exchange of love that they felt during the flower presentations at the end. I said, "Helen, you worked so hard for me but that had to be the best idea EVER."
She blinked at me.
She blinked again.
And then she said, "honey, I don't know what kind of stress you were under, but I never said that."
And then she said, "honey, I don't know what kind of stress you were under, but I never said that."
I chided her, "oh c'mon, you know, the thing about giving the flowers and saying thanks for coming...it means a lot". She looked puzzled and she said, "Mamie, it wasn't me, maybe it was one of the other reps". (I was willing to say I had lost my mind at that point:))
I insisted: "Helen, we sat on the floor together, you taught me what to do, you said create the ending, you said BUY FLOWERS!". She shrugged her shoulders and she said, yes we were on the floor over there and put the outfits with the models by size. I told you what I knew about staging a show...but I never knew about the flowers until you carried them in that day. I was stunned. But I still didn't get it.
A few weeks after THAT, I was speaking to a good friend of mine who had been unable to attend the event. She is so spiritual and so gifted and so beautiful a person. I told her that it was obvious that I had simply lost my mind, and she said, "oh, Mamie, you have not lost your mind, you have just picked up the gift of hearing. Re has connected to you from heaven." OMIGOD!
And that is why the people felt an intense love from the flower...it wasn't me saying thank you....it was Re.
The End.
Love You Re.
Mamie
