Class Notes
Giving List

Spring 2013

I’m a worrier.  Always have been.  I have a tendency to look way down the road, and imagine the worst case scenario.  I’m also an obsessive, Type A planner, always thinking four steps ahead of where I am at the moment. 

As much of a planner as I am, however, for some reason this year I never thought to make a New Year’s resolution. So when someone asked me the other day what my 2013 resolution is, I surprised myself when I blurted out, “I’m going to be in the moment.”

I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that, until I realized that I hadn’t actually come up with it.  Rather, it was a seed of wisdom that had been planted in my brain 25 years ago, and that decided to emerge just then from some hidden corner of my memory.  The person that planted it was a Wise Sage by the name of Bob Larson, Luther professor and theater director.

Initially, the idea of “being in the moment” was an acting lesson.  I had the great privilege of taking some acting classes from Bob at Luther and was in several productions he directed. Whenever I was on stage, I was always thinking ahead to the next three or four lines in the dialogue, going over them in my mind.  Bob told me stop that, to trust that I would remember my lines when the time came, and to instead actually listen to what the other actors in the scene were saying and react to it.  The best moments on stage happen, Bob taught us, when actors truly respond to each other, rather than going through the motions while they are lost in their own thoughts, anticipating what they themselves will say next. 

I see now, of course, that this was Bob’s metaphor for real life.  And I recall him using that phrase to describe people. “She’s someone who is really in the moment,” he would say.  It was his way of complimenting people who were present and engaged in life, and actively responsive to the people and events around them.

Being in the moment is especially important for me this year, as it is my son’s last year of high school.  Rather than spending time and energy anticipating the changes coming and wondering what it will be like when he’s gone, there are lots of moments that I want to truly be in: watching his last swim meet; sending him off to his last high school dance; taking our last spring break together as a family.  Life is full of such bittersweet “lasts” to savor…but it’s also full of important firsts, and many other random but significant moments that deserve our complete, undistracted and undivided attention.

So, Bob, this is an open letter to you.  Thank you for the wisdom you shared.  It stuck. 

And to my classmates, here’s hoping that you will take a moment when you read this letter to remember someone at Luther who did something or said something that stuck with you – someone who offered a word of advice, helped you out, influenced you, or spent an important moment with you.  Or maybe just someone who was a big part of your daily life. (I know, for some of you that would be the bartender at Zahasky’s. I’m not here to judge.)

May 2013 be full of great moments for you, and may you truly be in them.

Gina Sauer
ginasauer@msn.com

Class Note
GINA SAUER is the director of attorney recruiting and development at Oppenheimer, Wolff, and Donnelly in Minneapolis.

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