Have you ever been the one who keeps everybody else’s life running, only to realize one day that nobody thought to ask how you were doing? I have a feeling you know exactly what I mean.
That is where I want to start with Lucy Lantern. Before we go any further, let me be plain about something. Lucy is a character. She lives in the Performance Blogging Story Universe™, a shared world of fictional characters and stories, so you will not find her on any street map. But I have spent enough time getting to know her that I can tell you what her porch smells like, and I think you are going to want to pull up a chair.
The Porch Light
Lucy Lantern grew up in a little town called Sweetgum Springs, where her grandmother kept a brass lantern lit on the front porch every single night. It was not for decoration. It was for whoever needed to find their way home. A cousin coming in late. A neighbor having a hard night. Sometimes a stranger who had taken a wrong turn.
Her grandmother had one rule about that lantern, and Lucy never forgot it.
“You don’t have to carry them, sugar. You just hold the light.”
Her grandmother has passed on now. Lucy still lights that lantern whenever someone she loves is on their way, and she carries a tiny brass copy of it on her keys everywhere she goes.
Twenty-Five Years of Keeping Everybody Else Going
For about twenty-five years, Lucy Lantern worked in the front office of the local school. If you have ever known a school office administrator, you know the type. She knew every family’s name, every allergy, every carpool arrangement, and a good many secrets she would take to her grave. She kept everybody else’s life running smoothly.
And nobody ever asked how Lucy was doing. Least of all Lucy.
The Flop
Then the school restructured, and her job went away. Lucy was in her early fifties and scared. She tried something new, and it flopped, quietly and a little embarrassingly, in a way she did not tell anyone about for a long time.
What she learned from that flop is the heart of who she is. She had spent years waiting for somebody to give her permission to start. Nobody was coming. She had to give it to herself.
So when Lucy tells you it is not too late, she is not handing you a slogan. She is telling you something she had to learn the hard way.
What Lucy Believes
Lucy Lantern believes nobody figures it out alone. Now here is the thing: she does not lecture. She never says “you should.” She does not promise how anything will turn out, because she knows better than to promise what she cannot control.
What she does is tell you a small story from her own life, like the year she put the printer in the wrong room and told everybody it was broken. Then she asks one good question, usually, “What’s the very first thing you don’t know?” It is amazing how often that is enough to get somebody moving.
You will hear her say things like, “Now, I’m not gonna tell you what to do. I’ll tell you what I did,” and, “That’s not failure, sugar. That’s Tuesday.”
Her One Blind Spot
Lucy is not perfect, and I would not want her to be. She is endlessly patient with everybody else and awfully hard on herself. She will tell you to ask for help all day long, and she almost never asks for it herself. She talks a little too long and takes on everyone’s troubles.
She also keeps a worn notebook of people’s “firsts,” the first time someone asked a question out loud, the first time they tried something new. There is not one page in it about her.
I have a feeling that is going to change.
What You Will See Her Do
In the stories, Lucy Lantern brings perspective. Other characters bring the excitement, the questions, and the reality checks. Lucy is who they turn to when the question stops being about the thing in front of them and becomes, “Can I actually do this?” She never fixes it for them. She holds the light while they look.
Picture a lantern on a porch. It does not walk anyone home. It just makes the way easier to see.
If you have ever felt behind, or wondered whether starting something new was foolish, or been the one who keeps everyone else going, I think you will see yourself in her.
Come Sit a Spell
I will be sharing more about Lucy Lantern and her friends as their stories unfold. For now, pull up a chair on the porch and pour yourself a glass of sweet tea. The light is on.
Lucy Lantern is a fictional character in the Performance Blogging Story Universe™. She does not make claims about products, health, or income.