Many years ago, I was working and supporting a disabled woman named Kim in her home. Kim, orphaned on the streets as a 2-year-old and ill with brain infection encephalitis in a foreign city, was eventually adopted by an American family.
Throughout the ten years I worked with her, her ability to perform daily living tasks declined, and she started exhibiting new and peculiar behaviors. It was like she was different every 3- 6 months. I was tasked with writing new learning strategies and behavior management plans and utilizing creative ways to teach skills. It wasn’t until several years later, and at a point that Kim was a shell of herself, that she was diagnosed and suffering from frontal lobe degeneration disease. The doctor explained that her brain was dying, which was likely contributed to her childhood illness. She forgot everything she had ever experienced, learned, and who she was. My organization pushed me to create learning programs and insisted I continue to try and teach her. However, she eventually fell asleep and passed away, and her death deeply impacted me more than I realized.
She loved and frequently sang “Over the Rainbow.” It was a soothing tune. She didn’t sing the entire song, only a few disconnected verses here and there.
Feeling the loss of Kim and without a purpose, I decided I wanted to do something different. Even though I was promoted and took on management and training roles professionally, I yearned for something different. Something that I could embrace as a purpose in life.
Asking myself, how can I be of service to others? How can I contribute to my community and serve the highest good? At this time, I was a single mother of 1 young adult in college and 2 in high school. Investing time and energy into my development took six years of college. Eventually, I graduated with a master’s in Instructional Design. I was ready to move on.
Fast forward 3 years later, and I found myself in the Emerald City of Seattle at a conference for CHART (Conference of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers). There, I discovered the theme of the conference, “Path to Everywhere.” Over the next few days, I attended sessions led by L & D leaders in hospitality training. I finished a complete track and found out there was to be a pinning ceremony for all that completed a track.
At the beginning of the pinning ceremony, a song began to flow down from above, “Over the Rainbow,” played by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. Chills overtook my body, and when my name was called, I stood to walk up to the front of the large room. I reached my hand out to accept the little red bag with a pin, and in a flash, I remembered Kim and the song that brought her so much comfort. Then as if all around me faded, I heard her say, “You made it, Lou!”.
The next day as everyone was leaving to go home. While waiting in line at a coffee shop, a fellow attendee wearing a red shirt (Kim’s Favorite color) approached me and asked how I felt after completing my first CHART. The woman was a long-time participant in the organization and had completed all 12 competencies tracks. I responded that I had learned so much and made so many new friends and would be returning. Then, a chance encounter at the airport brought me face-to-face with the same woman from the coffee shop. Her travel companion called her Kim, and I welled up in tears and was again reminded of my Kim.
From 2012 to 2023, I was in many ways lost, but now I have found my way. Kim’s memory inspired me to chart a new course in life, and I was determined to make the most of it. I now have a renewed sense of purpose. With the life lessons I have learned and the people I met along the way, I am ready to accept my path everywhere.
With a renewed sense of purpose, I set out to serve others and improve the quality of the lives of others once again. Thank you, Kim Ahna.
awiyasideoflife.wordpress.com 