In last week’s Super Soul Sunday, the film “Lost in Woonsocket” reminds us that when we dare to make a connection with someone else, the change happens to everyone.  The film that grew out of the documentary film series on A&E called Random 1, chronicled the journey of filmmakers John Chester and Andre Miller and team and helping two men, Mark and Normand, who were sleeping next to a creek, back in the woods.  As I watched the journey from addition to wellness and from kindness to understanding, I found myself fighting the memories from my own similar story.  You see, my family had a “Normand.”

My mother’s story rivals Oprah’s in many ways.  At five, she was shot by her oldest brother. At 6, her mother left the ranch and her 6 children…one just six weeks old.  Back then, postpartum didn’t exist…so to survive…she left.  So, from a very young age, my mother and my aunt were the women of the house…and brothers and sisters were interconnected through it all.  But “Lost in Woonsocket” takes me to my youngest uncle.  He was our Normand.  Always the uncle who was fun and loving and there to help you in a moments notice.  But something happened when he got older.  A Vietnam veteran who used alcohol to numb his memories, he struggled.  This became more than he could handle after his wife died and one summer, I found out, he was homeless and living on a creek bank. He was in Oklahoma.  I was in California and in college.

Now, all kinds of memories fill my mind when I think of this.  How could this be? Not in my family? What is going on?  Eventually, a long stay in the hospital for a medical condition was his detox and his “rehab.”  He cleaned up and looked ever the handsome resemblance to Neil Diamond.  Charming, smart and sarcastic, he made his way back and into the lives of his children.  Then…months later, he was back on the creek bank.  Later on, he moved into a Veteran’s home that gave him shelter and the rest of us peace of mind…but again, he would leave.  He wanted his freedom.  Two years ago he died from heat stroke.  He was living alone, passed out and hit his head.  He was only 56 years old.

So, as I watched these two men and the filmmakers wish these men well, I had all kinds of feelings swelling up in my heart.  My cynical side telling me, “It won’t stick…they may end up right back where you found them…” and the hopeful side thinking, “Please let this work. Please let them stay sober and connected to the people they love.”  All of this coming from my own background…and my own “Lost in Woonsocket” experience.  What I was surprised to find was an ‘aha’ moment when watching the twists and turns of these lives in progress.  The lesson was this…when you help someone through anything it doesn’t just changes them, it changes YOU and when you love someone through anything, it dosn’t just changes their lives ..it changes YOUR life too.  So, while the entire story breeds energy and inspiration and hopefulness…I realized that I was changed for watching it.  All of these people sharing this story changed me.  Super Soul Sunday changed me.  Every single person in my life…their energy…their story…watching this film and sitting on my sofa this morning…seeing this changes me.  Some lessons are super sticky and never leave you.  Some lessons don’t stick.  C’est la vie.  The important thing is that you were there. You connected.  You lived. Wishing you all today and everyday…a super soul sticky life!