In Celebration of Lois

Here's a story written by my administrative assistant Lois Minto. She loved to collect the letters I, L and Y when she found them lying around in nature. In fact, she kept bowls of these letters at her house. She told me that she would kill me if I ever shared the story that she wrote with anyone, but today seems like a perfect day to spread Lois's "ILY" to the world. This in celebration of Lois: today, tomorrow, and always. You are loved by many.

My Little Christmas “ILY” Story

One summer day, shortly after losing my job of 30 years, my dogs danced on the kitchen floor with excitement as I grabbed their leashes to go on our walk in a nearby park - a park we have walked in for the past 13 years.  For some silly reason, I happened to notice that particular day how there were so many twigs on the ground in the shape of an “L”. Never noticing them before, my initial thought was “hey, the first letter of my name.”  As we walked along I began to pick them up not really sure of what I would ever do with them.  It just seemed like something I could do while we stopped along the way every few feet to do what dogs like to do: to smell the scent of other dogs that walked the trail before them.  Similar to what people do when they take the time to stop and smell the roses.  This is the leisurely mind set I have when walking with my dogs.  It’s my time to reflect.  It’s my time to let go of any stresses or worries.   I looked at the assortment of L’s I had collected.  I thought how much we love taking these walks each day and that my new found L’s could also be for the first letter of the word “Love”.  Yes, that would be it, Love!  I continued to collect my L’s each day and placed them gently in a bucket on the front porch.  I call it my bucket of Love.  I was asked; “what are you ever going to do with all these L’s?  I replied that I didn’t really know.  I just enjoyed doing it and maybe they would always just sit there on the front porch in my pretty little bucket.”  So with each walk we took every day, I came home with some L’s.  All of them were different and unique.  Some were short, long, thin, chunky, smooth, twisted, light and dark. Perhaps they were a representation of all the people in the world from different walks of life.  One lazy day in October I decided to count how many I had collected.  There were 395.  Today, Christmas Eve, as I walked out the door with my dogs, I glanced at now 3 buckets filled with Love and smiled.  There must be a thousand L’s by now and off we went.  The trail had a light dusting of snow on it.  Footprints and paw prints lay ahead of us this beautiful Christmas Eve day.  Evident that many others love walking on this trail as much as we do.   Today, for whatever reason, was different.  I noticed that of all the many twigs on the ground there were also I’s and Y’s.  The alphabet ran through my mind and I realized these were the only three letters naturally formed from the broken, fallen twigs. I’s, L’s and Y’s.  No other letter could be formed.  As I continued on our walk picking up my L’s I thanked God for giving me this beautiful day.  I thanked him for my dogs, my family and friends.  There was an abundance of L’s today.  My pockets were over flowing with them.  I thought about it being Christmas, being unemployed and not being able to afford buying gifts.  And then I thought; “I don’t need to buy any gifts!  I have the gift of Love right here in my pockets. That’s right, the gift of Love from God.”  I felt a genuine sense of reassurance and peace of mind that God would continue to look out for me despite not having a job.  As I walked toward home, I enthusiastically thought of painting my L’s and giving one to everyone I love as my Christmas gift.  It then dawned on me why there are only I’s, L’s and Y’s.  The “L” is for Love.  The “Y” is for You and the “I” is obvious.  I Love You.  I like to think of this as a Christmas message from God.  Some might think it silly but I do believe it.  God is showering the ground with a sign of his Love for us every day.   I emptied my pockets and counted the L’s I gathered up that day to make sure I had enough.  There were exactly 33, the age when Jesus died.  Was it just coincidence?  Maybe, but I believe it truly is a message of Love from God.  And so each of you reading my little ILY story now have a symbol of God’s Love from me to you.  Keep it where you can be reminded of God’s Love for all of us no matter who you are or where you are in life.

R.I.P, Lois. I.L.Y.