A Human Tornado of
KINDNESS! A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud.
M
y name is Kim Iribarren, owner, and publisher of Central Coast KIND magazine and this is the Central Coast KIND story! I am 57 years old and my husband and I have been together half of my life. He is my world and without him, I am literally half a person. We are both workaholics and have spent most of our time together, apart. Love makes the heart grow fonder is a true statement. In 2008 I was assigned a project with the company I worked for and they said I could go anywhere I wanted. One of our sons had graduated from Cal Poly and I remembered the gorgeous Central Coast of California. Much like Cher in the movie Mermaid, with a finger pointed at the map, I said 'I want to go there"! I flew out for the weekend alone and afraid, for this was a big move and not everyone was behind me, as you see, we have eight children and now eleven grandchildren. My soul was determined, and fear is not something I do well. I found a wonderful one bedroom in Avila Beach overlooking the gorgeous ocean with a beautiful view of the sunrise and sunset. My heart was excited and heavy at the same time. I was unsure and feeling a bit weak in the knees. After securing the apartment, walking the beach, meditation, soul-searching, and prayer, I returned to San Luis Obispo Airport to f ly home to Texas and pack up. I remember this day like it was yesterday as I was emotional, tired and leary all at the same time, I was feeling excited and daring. As I got ready to sit in my assigned seat this red-headed lady on the plane, reading a book, looked up as I was loading my suitcase in the overhead bin and said hello! I sat down and instantly we started talking. We talked about her life, my life, our husbands, our work, our cooking, our flight schedules (as she was on her way to visit her sister and law to tile the bathroom for her)! We talked about everything under the sun. Now, this is where the KINDNESS began for me - As I was telling her about my plans to come out on this new adventure alone hoping my husband and son would follow in six months, she said to me, are you bringing any furniture? I said no, I will just rent or something, I’m literally coming with whatever will fit in my car. She said, “well no problem, I just moved off a ranch and have a load of furniture in storage and you can use that". She continues, "I have everything you will need, except perhaps the bed frame and a couch". "You don’t need to go and spend money on all of that as it would
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A Time to Reflect Issue 2018