The Second Leg of the Get Well America Tour

Get Well America Tour – Peyton, Colorado – January 14-20, 2020

On January 14, 2020, I aimed for Boise City, Oklahoma. I loved the idea of starting the second leg of the Get Well America Tour in Oklahoma’s panhandle. It seems so fragile on the map and a good place to dip my toe into a state I knew little about.

Off I went, filled the excitement. Two days earlier, I had made my first public presentation on behalf of the Get Well America Tour at the First Universalist Unitarian Church of Denver’s Sunday service. With slides of the first leg in the background, I spoke about the power of inviting kindness, first to oneself and then to others. The message was well received. They, like everyone else I have spoken with, are tired of all the meanness. They embraced the potential kindness has to heal us individually, in our families and in our country.

I ended my three minute presentation by inviting the congregation to reflect upon their level of kindness, to themselves and then to others, and to rate it from 1 -10, ten high. Boldly and confidently, I asked that they each commit to increasing their personal kindness quotient, again, first by being kind to themselves, then to others. And just as I have seen in hundreds of faces around the country, their faces glowed with the possibilities. In that moment they became my Home Angels.

With renewed commitment to the possibility that America could heal through a collective increase of kindness, Little Miss Red and I headed south from Denver. Within twenty miles, a lively inner dialogue began to challenge my worthiness to speak of self-kindness as I pushed myself to Boise City, Oklahoma in my current condition. My two-month “rest” from the road hadn’t been restful at all. It was filled with a series of difficult and challenging events. I left Denver exhausted and Little Miss Red was in great need of order.

My kindness quotient was definitely low. I hadn’t been kind enough to myself to have figured out where I was going to stop or what a reasonable distance to drive would be. Now it was clear that I needed to stop. It wasn’t until seventy miles later I came to roost at the Falcon Meadows Campground in Peyton Colorado with beautiful Pikes Peak in the background and beautiful people in the foreground. It would do for the night.

My own kindness quotient grew as I allowed for one night, then another, and another until I logged 6 days and nights and of sleeping, unpacking and loving myself until I was ready to go. I found my way into Colorado Springs a couple of times, to the Y for workouts and showers, supply shopping, a couple meals out, a Little Library as well as donation drop. The last was the best as the less I have, the easier it is to live in Little Miss Red, giving me more time and energy to share the message of kindness.

A work-out and a shower! Ahh!

Right next to the Y, this Little Library next to the Y jumped out at me and said with a smile, “Time to get back to work!”

And now on to Boise City, Oklahoma!

Kindness

First to yourself and then to others!

What’s your kind of quotient today?