She Leaves A Little Sparkle Wherever She Goes

It’s been a hard week, friends. Two people whose lives and art inspired me, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, died far too early. They were both talented, creative, and driven. They both seemingly “had it all;” unfortunately “it all” included the struggles that led to their deaths.

The Saturday before Kate's death I wandered into a bookstore and purchased The Gifts of Imperfection, a book by Dr. Brene Brown, on wholehearted living which was recommended to me by my therapist. Dr. Brown tells us that to live wholeheartedly we need courage, compassion, and connection. The ideas Dr. Brown discusses around vulnerability and shame are ones I’ve been exploring lately, prior to picking up the book.

I recently came to the realization, I don’t know if I would even call it that but this idea started to resonated more deeply with me, that people want to be seen and valued. Maybe it’s because that’s what I want and I feel like it’s missing, so I want to put it into the world. I’m not sure yet. But a few weeks ago I started reaching out to someone each day just to say that I admire, or appreciate, something about them. It’s not something I told anyone about, until now. I never really planned on telling people about it, it’s not about that, it was never about that.

With so many posts about the impact Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade had on people’s lives, with discussion about how to best support each other I wanted to share my method with you. It’s just something I decided to do one day and it felt good, so I kept going. I want to foster connection. I want people to know that their efforts are noticed and matter. As Brene Brown says, "connection begets connection."

What Anthony Bourdain did, better than possibly any human I have ever witnessed, was to truly see the places he traveled, to revel in who and what makes them special. He used food as the commonality, the thing that binds us; but seeing him talk to people he made every effort to understand them. He shared his discoveries, his insights, with brash eloquence that I can only aspire to; but that’s Tony, that’s not me.

One remembrance of Kate I keep seeing is “she leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes.” That saying was on a card in a glitter clutch my mom gave me for Christmas several years ago as my reminder to shine. It is, of all my Kate Spade things, my very favorite. It is the thing people comment on the most. It just...sparkles. But, as all things with glitter do, it tends to leave a bit of itself behind wherever it goes. And maybe that’s Kate’s legacy, to have left the world a little brighter, a little cheerier than she found it; because it’s what she desperately needed, so she put it out into the world.

While my little offerings to others isn’t something particularly inspired by Anthony Bourdain or Kate Spade, it does seem like a fitting combination of their legacies; to search out the special thing someone brings to the world, to truly see it, and them them know it sparkles.

Continue to sparkle,

Andrea