Hey, Amy here.

Yesterday, I got all choked up thinking about the mark that we all get to leave on the world in our lifetimes.

 

It happened as I was listening to my dear friend Mama Elizabeth speak... 

 

She's super busy this month because it's black history month and she was a civil rights activist when she was younger, a member of the Richmond 34.

She was arrested as a young woman for standing up for civil rights, and she was responsible for integrating a high school in Virginia and she played a really big role in black history.

She is my friend and a huge role model for me in my life. 

She is in her 80's now... and she's still doing her thing... she's still speaking her message and sharing her story and inspiring the masses and standing up against racism and shining an enormous amount of love into the world every single day.

 

She inspires me deeply to do more in my lifetime, and to show up fully.

She came out to share on our call yesterday, and she started out by simply saying, 

"I am here."

 

Then she went on to share how she was invited to be on a Zoom call with a group of social studies teachers, who were not really supposed to be having a conversation with her about her history as a civil rights activist. But they wanted to learn from her.

 

She said they were beautiful white women about her age or a little older, and 

"They were here to hear me. They were here to hear me, what I had to say."

 

And that's when the tears started for me... I was thinking about how there are people here to hear what each of has to say... we have a purpose here. 

And as she was speaking I felt like she was seeing that in a deeper way that day. And through her, I was seeing it in a deeper way too. 

We have to show up, we have to really show up in our lifetimes if we really want to make a difference.

 

I was so moved as she was talking. I was thinking about the mark she is leaving on this world.

 

And I was thinking about how fortunate we all are to able to spend every morning 5 days a week with this amazing woman... in the presence of greatness like this.

 

And I was thinking about the greatness we all have within us... and the mark that we all have the ability to leave while we are here.

 

I was thinking about the story that we all have inside of us that can inspire people and help people.

 

And then I was taking a shower and I had tears streaming down my face and I started singing one of my favorite songs in the shower. 

It's a song about making a difference and leaving your mark. And the reason I love it is because it's such a powerful reminder about what I came here to do. 

And it speaks to me on a cellular level, on a soul level. It feels like my song.

 

But when I was singing it yesterday, I was thinking about Mama Elizabeth.

I was thinking about how she has already done it... and how she continues to do it... into her eighties, and what a huge inspiration she is for all of us. 

And what a beautiful role model she is for me, and for so many of us.

 

I was singing and I was crying and I was feeling so honored to know her and so grateful that we get to spend time with her on our call every day, and that she calls me on the phone and speaks life to me or send me a text when I'm feeling down.

 

I was (and am) just feeling so grateful and just so in awe.

 

The song is by Beyonce, and it's called I Was Here.

Here are the lyrics:

 

I want to leave my footprints on the sands of time

Know there was something that, something that I left behind

When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets

Leave something to remember, so they won't forget

 

I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here

I did, I've done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know I was here

 

I wanna say I lived each day, until I died

I know that I had something in somebody's life

The hearts I have touched, will be the proof that I leave

That I made a difference and this world will see
 

I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here

I did, I've done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here

 

I just want them to know

That I gave my all, did my best

Brought someone some happiness

Left this world a little better just because

I was here

 

I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here

I did, I've done, everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I wanna leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here

 

I think it's a good reminder for all of us that we can all leave the world a little better just because we were here. We all have the ability to do that.

 

And just thank you Mama Elizabeth for being such a beautiful example for all of us of what it looks like to be committed to love and making a big difference in your lifetime. I am so honored to know you.