Healing through Connection: The Power of Gathering to Share Our Stories and Creating Space For Wellbeing
Written by Lesley Jones + An Epic Birthday Month Giveaway
The Art of Gathering Series
At the age of 9, my daughter, Cam, underwent an emergency appendectomy. It was a traumatic unfolding of events. One minute she was running around, and the next minute she was doubled over in pain. We were Americans living in England with no family nearby and very limited understanding of the National Healthcare System, and suddenly found ourselves with a very ill child.
As day turned into night, Cam’s appendix grew sicker and sicker. Her surgery kept getting pushed back due to an influx of emergencies and only one operating room. At midnight, the nurse came in and said not to expect surgery until the morning; that pediatric surgeries just aren’t done that late unless they are an emergency.
I panicked. I thought this was an emergency. But then 15 minutes later the nurse came back in.
“The surgeon, Dr. Ali, he’s…well … .he’s refusing to leave the hospital until he performs her surgery,” she said. “I’ve never seen this before. He’s outside the operating room waiting for it to free up. When it does, we’ll take her down.”
Finally at 1:00 am Dr. Ali came to take Cam to surgery. I fell to my knees, and prayed for strength. I prayed for Cam and for the surgeon caring for her and the team helping him save my girl.
At 3:30 am Dr. Ali came into the dark room to update me. He explained he had removed the busted up appendix just in time, before sepsis set in, and that he felt good about the outcome of the surgery.
And then, in the dark room, there was light. This man – this doctor – saw the urgency of her situation when no one else did. He saved her life.
Making Space to Share and See Each Other
So, when, weeks after Cam was released from the hospital, she was given an assignment at school to do a 10-minute presentation on her hero, I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t pick Queen Elizabeth or David Beckham or even her own father; she picked Doctor Ali. Cam emailed her hero to see if they could meet so that she could interview him for her presentation. To our surprise, he responded quickly, excited to participate. So off we went to Salisbury District Hospital. Dr. Ali greeted us with a warm, wide smile and a big hug. We took a seat in a small conference room, and Cam began her interview.
The power of someone taking time to see you and make space for connection is truly a beautiful thing to witness.
Lesley Jones
“Why did you become a doctor? What is the best part of your job? Who is your hero?”, she asked.
Dr. Ali answered her questions graciously, ending each answer by telling Cam what an honor it was that, when she could have picked anyone else in the whole wide world, she picked him as her hero.The power of someone taking time to see you and make space for connection is truly a beautiful thing to witness. As Dr. Ali sat nearly knee to knee with my 9-year-old daughter, you would have thought this was the greatest honor of his life; and it was Cam’s desire to make time for his story that made his heart feel so full. He was her hero, yes, but now he was her friend.
When the interview was over we got up to leave, and Dr. Ali opened the door to let us out, but then paused, and closed it again.
“You know why this means so much to me,” he said. “I’d like to tell you a story…”
He shared his heart. And there in the space between us sparked a connection so big, mystical, and meaningful that only God himself could have orchestrated it.
When Our Hearts Connect Through Story
As we listened enraptured, we learned that Dr. Ali was from Pakistan and practiced medicine in the Middle East before moving to England.. His first case in the UK was a 15-year-old girl who came in with severe abdominal pain. During the operation, Dr. Ali discovered she had a twisted ovary that was dying putting her at risk of going septic. He followed hospital policy and brought in the Gynecologist on call to confirm, after she confirmed the decision was made to not only remove the inflamed appendix but also the dying ovary.
Dr. Ali went to update the girl’s mom excited that the surgery had gone well, but when she saw he was of Middle Eastern descent, she began to verbally attack him. Her accusation in front of his colleagues, hospital staff, and patients, came in hysterical screams that he was a member of ISIS and that he had purposefully twisted her daughter’s ovary as an act of terror.
In that tiny room, as Dr. Ali told us his story, I could see in his eyes the pain he carried with him. A burden so heavy that he had withdrawn from connecting with his patients at all. But on that day, he said, he felt like he could really let that go. He said that for the first time in a very long time, he had felt hope, and he wanted to make sure we knew.
A story that needed to see the light of day. And in the sharing there was connection; that’s where the hope lives…where the healing begins.
Lesley Jones
All because a beautiful little girl with a wide smile and big brown eyes didn’t see race or color or creed, she just saw a man who fought for her health and wellbeing. She saw her hero. A hero that was brave enough to share a story he had carried with him for years. A story that needed to see the light of day. And in the sharing there was connection; that’s where the hope lives…where the healing begins.
A Life Transformed Creates Space for Others to Share their Stories
Our experience with Dr. Ali shaped my belief that the best way to fill up is through coming together to connect with other humans. I’ve learned that meaningful connection can only happen when, just like Dr. Ali, we share the stories we carry with one another. Stories we own. Stories we borrow. Stories of strength and overcoming limits. Stories of finding faith and finding ourselves. Every one of us has beautiful and unique stories to tell, and it’s in the sharing of these stories that we can find pieces of ourselves within one another and know we are not alone.
To this end, I have spent the last decade creating a brand rooted in my deep belief that sharing our stories is how we foster meaningful connection. Traveling Pendants are unique touchstones of support designed to be worn every day to encourage connection. Each pendant carries wearable, shareable stories of strength. When you wear then share a Traveling Pendant, you’re saying, “I see you, and I want you to always remember you’re never alone.” That’s connection in action, and that’s the power of Traveling Pendants.
Here’s my favorite part. Traveling Pendants are designed to travel!
Traveling Pendants
Find the unique, hand-stamped number on the back of your pendant, and register it on our website. Wear your pendant while you need strength, and then pass it on to someone in need. Just make sure the receiver adds their story to the pendant’s online log too.
Once you start this chain of giving, there’s no limit to how far your pendant can travel. You can track it at any time using your unique pendant number, and we’ll send you updates when new strength stories are added to your pendant’s log.
Whether you’re the giver or the receiver, our pendants are brought to life through the connections that are created when they are shared.
When you wear then share a Traveling Pendant, you’re saying, “I see you, and I want you to always remember you’re never alone.” That’s connection in action, and that’s the power of Traveling Pendants.
Lelsey Jones
Birthday Month Giveaway!!
I am so excited that Lesley and I are teaming up to bring you this epic giveaway!
I love that this giveaway is all about sharing our stories with those who have made space for us in their lives!
This give away includes two of each of the following{ one for you one for a friend}
- Traveling Pendants
- 10 dollar gift cards to Noonday Collection
- Gentle and Lowly Books
- encouraging stickers
Enter this giveaway by leaving a comment on this post, following Lesley and I on all our social media outlets, and subscribing to Lesley’s Newsletter as well as the Graceful Table Newsletter.
Lesley lives in Dayton, Ohio where she is a wife, mother of three, writer and owner of Traveling Pendants, a brand built on the idea that connection is the one thing that, without fail, can give our lives meaning and purpose. She believes that humans are meant to connect with other humans; it’s in our DNA. Her brand of wearable, shareable jewelry are vehicles for connection, carrying real stories off strength and hope from person to person.
connect with Lesley here:
IG: @tavelingpedants
find out more about the work she does with Traveling Pendants at travelingpendants.com
A Simple Charcuterie Guide
What a perfect time to start honing your charcuterie skills! I have just the right thing to help you feel ready and confident while you gather. I created this simple and beautiful charcuterie guide for you. In my opinion it’s cute enough to display and then it would always be available for you! Plus, I am always honored to offer you practical content for purposeful and life giving time around the table. Check it out by clicking on the graphic below!
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