The red suitcase that changed everything

If you could put what you offer into an all-inclusive image, what would it look like?

I ask because, you know, we can paint pictures using words.

I'll tell you a little story.

My mom is a nurse, although she's retired now. But back when the big 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, my mom was one of the volunteers who went to help because medical care and supplies were scarce.

She asked me, "How can we find things to bring...?"

The first thing I did was go to Craigslist and put up a post collecting any and all unneeded medical supplies to support Haiti ASAP.

Within days I was driving to homes where loved ones had recently passed away and gathered unused gauze, medical tape, and packaged breathing tubes. Every person who donated felt their loved one living on and helping, too.

This one home, I remember so clearly...a mom and her 21-year-old paraplegic son. They had boxes of unused tourniquets, bandages, and things I didn’t even know what they were, but I knew they had to be useful. Her son couldn't speak, but he excitedly let me know how honored he was to help.

What else were we missing, I thought? Ah! Rubbing alcohol, peroxide, hand sanitizer...

My cousin and I went to numerous dollar stores and collected as many bottles as we could.

HOME RUN!

Then the hard part... crap, we had to pack it all safely. Luckily, I once had my hand in buying and selling storage units long before it got popular, and I had tucked away in my garage a red, hard-cased suitcase lined in purple silk, leopard print.

PERFECT!

Except, it wasn't big enough. But it was a unique conversation piece!

After all donations, my mom took with her a hard case bin, 3 stuffed suitcases, a duffle bag, and the red, leopard print lined suitcase.

Get this: as she checked in her luggage at the airport, the toll was a hefty $350. She didn’t expect that. Right when she was about to hand over her credit card, the gentleman behind her who had overheard the conversation said, “Wait, I can’t go to Haiti and help, but I can pay for this. Thank you for your service.”

I was on the phone with my mom at the time and bawled my eyes out overhearing the conversation.

So she went, used every bit of the supplies, worked out of a makeshift tent in blazing heat for 10 days.

The red leopard print suitcase? My mom gifted it to a local Haitian who fell in love with it...and was so grateful to have it.

To this day, my mom and I still say "I love you more than purple leopard print." ...purple leopard print, because it's an inside thing (wink).

There are so many details I could share with you about this story.

But my points are:

Things happen, move, and change when people come together. That’s what community is all about. It’s a collective energy that nurtures each other and the divine collective of all. Magic happens in community.

I know this is all about writing about your business, what you do, what you offer, how you serve. How to resonate with your audience...

But,

I promise you this: it starts first with opening up the floodgates to your heart and to your own life.

Writing about your life, your pain, your struggles, what seems to be unfeelable. Sometimes even the stuff that is buried because we can’t bear to see it surface.

But also, the grace that has always lived underneath it all. You meet parts of yourself you forgot about long ago through writing.

And it opens the gates to your service and how you talk about your business and offerings.

Writing is writing about what moves people.

Writing is writing no matter what you're writing about, but...

It starts with YOU.

What experiences you've been through and moments you cherish (don't worry, you don't have to share it!)

We write about our lives, our struggles, what we notice about the world around us, and our brightest moments.

This is what opens the floodgates to find the words that define exactly what you do and how you serve, precisely when you need them.

xo,
Lora

p.s. Just wait until I tell you the time my mom left a cruise ship and ended up stranded in Mexico for 2 weeks. It was all out of love. She's the reason I am who I am today. 

p.p.s. Here are some photos of the progression and results if you'd like to see more.

6 suitcases filled with supplies, love, and hope. 

Nothing was overlooked and everything was used.

Even though mom took all these supplies, she took herself. 

Serving the very hearts she went to serve.

Thank you for reading.