HANA TRUSCOTT: The story in your soul

"There's a story in everybody's soul,

and we have to live it out in order to find out how it's going to end.

Then, at the end of life, you can say, 'I became myself,'

which is a lot better than saying, 'I rose to the top of the economic ladder,'

or, 'I became one of the many people who are sixty-five and older.'"

-Michael Meade, author of Fate and Destiny, the Two Agreements of the Soul

Last week as I was preparing my "message from the editor" for the Summer 2013 Issue of Pauza Magazine - Peace Corps Macedonia's quarterly publication - I wrote:

I used to feel like I was living with my bags packed. I wasn’t afraid of death. But now it’s my greatest fear.

When I joined the Peace Corps, knowing I would be gone for two years, I dreaded the aching pain of losing someone I love back home. Now I find myself in Peace Corps, grieving the death of a beautiful woman I came to know during my service in Macedonia...

My site mate Helene Wade died in June. She was one of those people who lived her story. She lived and breathed her uniqueness. She was herself.

I remember the first time I saw Helene. She stood out from the rest of the swarm of Peace Corps Volunteers that had gathered for the fall 2011 field day in Skopje. She was beautiful, elegant, with her long, silvery hair. She was composed, eloquent, and gentle, yet fiery and spirited. She was not afraid to tell it like it is. I remember thinking “I want to know this woman.” She died four months after a diagnosis in which the doctors gave her four to six months to live. She had told no one but her closest family and friends. News of her death came as a shock to us all. We published a tribute to Helene today in our Summer 2013 Issue of Pauza Magazine.

Little did I know that i would also soon experience that dreaded aching pain of losing someone I love back home.

On Monday I received word that my beloved friend Maj StormoGipson died in a horrible rafting accident last Friday. She was with her husband Justin and three children on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River when it happened. She died living out her story. She too was an incredible woman who, in my opinion, had become herself. She stood up for justice, for human rights, for democracy in our town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She made frequent medical service trips to Central America with Justin. She knew what she believed in and she let the world know too. She loved her family and spent quality time adventuring around the world with them.

I met Maj back in elementary school. Her daughter Kate was a year behind me in school. We swam together in high school. When I lived in New York City, Maj's son Luke (a freshman at NYU at the time) was my adventure buddy and pseudo-little bro. Maj and her husband Justin visited and took us to the Spamalot Broadway show. I also met their whole family in Washington D.C. for the inauguration of President Obama in 2008. Her whole family is a blessing to know. A blessing to be around. Even their house has good energy. I enjoyed summers house sitting for them in downtown CDA and taking their good ol' golden lab Diego for hikes on Tubbs Hill. That dog loved cliff jumping and swimming!

Of all these newsie updates I've sent out over the years, Maj had replied to nearly every one. The last time I heard from her was in June. She was inquiring about my parent's trip to visit me. She hoped to see them soon and hear some stories re. their travels to Macedonia. She also sent out an Open House invitation to celebrate her daughter Kate's marriage to beau Eric. My parents attended. Maj said she hoped to see me when i returned home this fall. Gosh, it's hard to be away right now. There is indeed an aching pain of loss. For more about Maj, here's an article from the Spokesman Review, including details for the memorial service this Saturday at the Kroc Center.

Sadly, neither Helene nor Maj lived to be one of the many people sixty-five and older. However, by the end of their lives (in my opinion) they had become themselves, they had each discovered the story of their soul and were living it.

May these women be inspiration to each of us to find the story in our own souls and to have the courage to live it.