Bri K

The whole group of beautiful women!

Saturday I was part of a sweet celebration of my mentor Muriel’s 80th birthday. After an open house where around 100 women came to celebrate, about 13 of us gathered for a sweet dinner to honor her life. As the youngest there by about 13 years, I sat observing the amazing group of women whose lives have been touched by Muriel’s life and wondering what in the world I was doing there. I wonder if that’s what the disciples felt when Jesus said that he doesn’t call them servants but friends.

Muriel has had that unique gift and call of listening to listeners. She counsels the ones often counseling. She leads leaders. I sat at a table of ages from 31 to 93 and remarked at the influence of the lives of the women around Muriel. From PHD’s and faculty members to authors and mothers, the women impacted my Muriel are impacting and will impact an innumerable number of lives. And I suppose this is the phenomena of leading leaders that has always awed and humbled me. The investment is multiplied beyond comprehension. Not until heaven will we even glimpse the spider web of influence.

Muriel about to blow out the candles!

I sat and listened to Muriel and Dr. Pam Reeve speak of aging well. Dr. Reeve has surpassed Muriel in age and still sits on the Board of Trustees at Multnomah. She said that the last 15 years have been the best years of her life, the years most full of joy. I sat attentive trying to glean every last drop not only from the words they spoke, but from the spirit of the words they spoke. The women around them in their 50’s and 60’s affirmed that we have few examples of aging well and finishing strong, but these are two women who are full of grace, with sharp minds, strong bodies and hearts full of love and service. Muriel is a beautiful woman and her age only sharpens the poignancy of her beauty. She spoke of how this is a beautiful season in her life, not a sad one. It seems our culture speaks the opposite. We rebel against age with special creams and surgeries and all sorts of plastic options trying to conquer death. Instead, these women have embraced each season of their lives as a season of joy, of opportunity, of possibility. They have lived in the present. Retirement is something neither of these women have known. There is still too much life to be lived.

My thoughts on the day are still fragmented even as I write, but I do know this: I sat knowing the moment was a marker in my life. I sat considering that one day I may sit as Muriel at a table full of women, having lived long and deep and wholeheartedly and hopefully modeling what this amazing woman models for me. I sat knowing that every person I ever mentor will be given a piece of Muriel, just as they will be given a piece of my mom. For she is a spiritual mother, and I a daughter, and any legacy I leave will be part of hers. I sat realizing that these women, 50 and 60 years my elder, have a joy that I wrestle even now to have. They inspire me to breathe life in every breath and take all the loss, grief and sorrow as joy, expectant for His glory that is surpassing it all. To my first mentor who has walked with me these past 5 years with tears of compassion, words of deep wrought wisdom and a vision of hope, I say thank you! Seeing your life lived, I know that my dream is possible–to live life to the full, to the last, and then to keep living!

Lois, Kerrin and I at the party!