Latest / The Seed Project / The Porch Light

Transcript

The Porch Light · The Seed Project

• 0:01
  Hey, friend.
• 0:02
  Welcome to Send A Seed.
• 0:03
  I'm Charlotte Edwards, and I believe small seeds create big impact.
• 0:08
  Each week, we'll plant one.
• 0:10
  Let's dig in When I was in college, I lived in San Diego, and my mom and stepfather lived outside Pasadena.
• 0:20
  It was about a two-hour drive, depending on the traffic, which in Southern California can mean just about anything.
• 0:27
  I remember one day I was having a hard time.
• 0:31
  I can't remember now exactly what was going on, but nothing dramatic happened.
• 0:36
  I remember feeling anxious and unsure of myself.
• 0:40
  I was in that weird stage of life where you're trying really hard to prove that you can be independent while also feeling a little lonely and wondering if you actually know what you're doing, and that day, I just wanted to go home.
• 0:54
  I got in my car and drove up the Five freeway.
• 0:58
  I didn't call my mom and tell her I was coming.
• 1:01
  Back then, there were flip phones, and I don't even remember if mine could text.
• 1:07
  Either way, I got in the car and drove I knew I wasn't moving back home.
• 1:11
  I wasn't gonna stay long.
• 1:13
  I needed one night I pulled in the driveway and the house was dark, but the outside lights were on.
• 1:21
  Nobody had turned them on for me'cause nobody knew I was coming.
• 1:25
  But I remember seeing those lights and immediately feeling a little bit better.
• 1:32
  I was home.
• 1:34
  When I walked through the door, my mom was surprised to see me.
• 1:37
  She gave me a big hug.
• 1:39
  She didn't ask me 20 questions or need some big explanation of why I'd suddenly shown up.
• 1:45
  She just welcomed me home I don't even remember what, I told her that night.
• 1:50
  I remember how it felt.
• 1:51
  I remember feeling a sense of relief that I had somewhere to land I've thought about that a couple times recently, especially now that I'm a parent.
• 2:04
  I realize how lucky I was because not everybody has a home that they want to run back to Sometimes that place isn't the house that you grew up in.
• 2:13
  It might be a grandparent's house, a friend's kitchen table.
• 2:17
  It could be someone you met much later in life.
• 2:21
  I think what matters most is having somewhere where you can let your guard down, even if it's just for a little while.
• 2:28
  Somewhere where you don't have to explain yourself before you're welcome in.
• 2:33
  Somewhere to land.
• 2:36
  Over this past year, I've gotten to see that from the other side.
• 2:41
  We've had quite a few cadets come stay with us on the weekends whenever they get leave.
• 2:46
  Some of them live too far away to go home, and by the time they get to our house, they're usually exhausted, hungry, and need a break.
• 2:56
  They come and eat, sleep, hang out on the couch, laugh, and get to relax a little while before they had to, have to head back to campus.
• 3:06
  And of course, they love Petey and George.
• 3:08
  I think Petey and George are their own little version of pet therapy.
• 3:12
  There's something about having a golden retriever next to you that makes life a little easier to chill out and slow down.
• 3:20
  I love having them here.
• 3:23
  I love hearing the stories.
• 3:24
  I love Being that place where they can let their guard down and not worry And sometimes, goodness, I can almost have up to 15 kids I realize how important that is.
• 3:40
  I hadn't connected the two parts until recently, until all of these cadets started coming over to my house remembering all those years ago when I was the college kid driving two hours when I needed some place to land And now I'm the mom opening the door, and there's something beautiful about that to me.
• 4:04
  I was so blessed to have somewhere I knew I could go, and now I get to create a little bit of that for somebody else.
• 4:13
  It also changed the way I think about what it means to really be there for people I think we assume helping people means that we need to do something to fix the problem, to give advice, or always find the right thing to say.
• 4:30
  But I'm not sure that's what people always need.
• 4:34
  Sometimes what helps us keep going is simply having somewhere we don't have to be strong for a little while.
• 4:41
  And that's what my mom gave me that night.
• 4:43
  She didn't solve whatever I was struggling with, and honestly, I don't think I needed her to.
• 4:49
  She gave me somewhere to catch my breath before I went back out and tried again.
• 4:56
  And when I look at these boys stretch out all over the couch, eating all the food, loving on Petey and George, and getting a little break before they head back, I realize that's what we're giving them too, somewhere to land for a little while I wonder how many times this happens in our lives without us even realizing it.
• 5:18
  How many people have given us a place to land when we needed one?
• 5:22
  How many times have we been that place for somebody else without even knowing how much it mattered?
• 5:29
  All those years ago, my mom had no idea I was driving towards her, but the light was on anyway.
• 5:36
  And now all these years later, I get to leave mine on for somebody else That's your seed.
• 5:46
  Now go plant something good