So what is an Extraordinary Life Experience (ELE)? I guess that depends on who’s having the experience. For me, it was an unexpected outcome to a rather ordinary life.
The daughter of an Army officer and registered nurse, we moved across the country throughout my youth to a variety of places I would call home. But, at that time, I didn’t know what home really was. That concept of "home" would come into play much later in life.
As we moved every year or two before age 11, I was somewhat confused about what I would do with my life. I was actually quite young when I began to wonder about that, but that’s what my uprooting experience affected me, I suppose. I considered a number of possibilities, including a fashion model on the cover of a magazine. Now, for someone as shy and unworthy as I thought myself to be, this was a rather unrealistic future, but at the ripe old age of 12, it was what I had in mind. However, after I finished my academic commitments, I found myself precisely at this juncture—I was on the cover of a magazine! Not a global magazine, but nevertheless, it took me quite by surprise that I'd actually realized this goal of mine.
Soon after, I realized another goal. Though, it may have been quite silly at the time, the end results were really quite spectacular! This led to an exciting opportunity that changed the course of my life. I was living in the south and found myself on the “fast track”, quite literally, of an international sports car racing event that took me across the country many times over the course of three years, during which time I decided to move to L.A., California. This experience put me in the company of well-known public figures. There I was among the elite athletes of the world and some of the best-known musicians of our past and present. But, the relevance to this story would not be clear to me until almost 30 yrs. later.
Wow, here I am now, looking back over the years of an amazing life journey and just now coming to fully recognize my true self-identity. What I have learned out of all this is that no matter who you think you are, or who you meet in life, it is understanding the path that takes you there that is the greatest truth any human being can have. The lofty goals will patina over time and the rough spots will become smooth, and if you allow the process of self-awareness to take place in your life, you will come to understand your life's journey at a depth you never thought possible. We are all on the road of conscious evolution—the expanding awareness of our true Self and knowledge of what makes us all tick.
As I reflect on my incredible journey over the years, all the heartache, confusion, and sense of lack that was always there, I realize what life is trying to tell us—to understand that nothing happens without cause or reason, and at the core of our being the great mystery of life is unfolding.
Now, to get back to one of the most fascinating parts of my ELE, I would just like to say that life works, indeed, in strange ways. What could be stranger than a university student writing a term paper on a transsexual transitioning to one's true identity and then, one day down the road, becoming friends and ultimate business associates with one of the bravest transgenders of them all, (who just happened to be on my list of goals). A true Olympic feat, you might say. Now, that’s something to write home about.
Home, the next topic of conversation somewhere down the line …
To be continued …
Thanks for listening.
Pamela
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