Marilyn
When Marilyn, a community member with an intellectual disability, was asked how she would describe L’Arche, she said: “It’s a place where they want you.” Her description of L'Arche Portland is a powerful one. It’s powerful for her because she spent so much of her life in places where she didn’t feel wanted or welcomed.
Marilyn struggles with anxiety about whether she can stay in the community, frequently asking, “Are you going to keep me?” At her fifth anniversary, we gave her a t-shirt with a photo of herself surrounded by community members and the caption “I’m a keeper!” Whenever her anxiety comes up, we ask her, “Marilyn, what are you?” and she responds, “I’m a keeper.” L’Arche Portland offers Marilyn something she’s almost never experienced in her life: consistent, loving and welcoming presence. As she learns, little by little, to relax into that presence, she opens like a flower revealing her own beautiful, authentic nature.
Marilyn is generous, affectionate, spiritual, and utterly unique. Her generosity is expressed in the way she offers to pray for people struggling with illness or loss, in her uncanny ability to intuit and buy exactly the right gift for other core members or friends, in her deep commitment to volunteer her time in service at least twice per week. She loves to meet new people, introducing herself to strangers in grocery stores, Good Will, and the cafes where she stops for a pop. She juts out her hand and announces: “Hi, I’m Marilyn today.” Her birthday and anniversary parties are always packed with these new and many old friends who come to celebrate Marilyn.
Marilyn’s spirituality is a central force in her life. A couple years after coming to L’Arche, she became an associate member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Her commitment ceremony, in which she promised to bring love and peace through her life, remains an important milestone. She attends church every Sunday and each night before bed she asks an assistant to pray with her, reading a psalm aloud.
Marilyn’s transformation offers the entire community a powerful window into our own need for a sense of belonging. We can see ourselves as connected to this wise woman who might otherwise seem so different. We can be opened to see beyond the differences in intellectual capacity to the longing that we share to be loved, to be received for who we are.
Written by Tamara Yates, former assistant and current Director of Development and Communications at L'Arche Portland.
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Marilyn struggles with anxiety about whether she can stay in the community, frequently asking, “Are you going to keep me?” At her fifth anniversary, we gave her a t-shirt with a photo of herself surrounded by community members and the caption “I’m a keeper!” Whenever her anxiety comes up, we ask her, “Marilyn, what are you?” and she responds, “I’m a keeper.” L’Arche Portland offers Marilyn something she’s almost never experienced in her life: consistent, loving and welcoming presence. As she learns, little by little, to relax into that presence, she opens like a flower revealing her own beautiful, authentic nature.
Marilyn is generous, affectionate, spiritual, and utterly unique. Her generosity is expressed in the way she offers to pray for people struggling with illness or loss, in her uncanny ability to intuit and buy exactly the right gift for other core members or friends, in her deep commitment to volunteer her time in service at least twice per week. She loves to meet new people, introducing herself to strangers in grocery stores, Good Will, and the cafes where she stops for a pop. She juts out her hand and announces: “Hi, I’m Marilyn today.” Her birthday and anniversary parties are always packed with these new and many old friends who come to celebrate Marilyn.
Marilyn’s spirituality is a central force in her life. A couple years after coming to L’Arche, she became an associate member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Her commitment ceremony, in which she promised to bring love and peace through her life, remains an important milestone. She attends church every Sunday and each night before bed she asks an assistant to pray with her, reading a psalm aloud.
Marilyn’s transformation offers the entire community a powerful window into our own need for a sense of belonging. We can see ourselves as connected to this wise woman who might otherwise seem so different. We can be opened to see beyond the differences in intellectual capacity to the longing that we share to be loved, to be received for who we are.
Written by Tamara Yates, former assistant and current Director of Development and Communications at L'Arche Portland.
Back to Stories of Transformation
