MLC - Our Treasure

Photo by:  Barbara Baumann

Mary Lou Cook

April 29th, 1918 - October 7th, 2013

Mary Lou Cook's last words to us:  Our job is to be happy.  Ask for spiritual help, it is always available.  Establish healthy boundaries.  Guilt is optional.  Be creative, have fun, embrace life.  Live in joy even though you have all the facts.  Live in the present and realize freedom.  Forgiveness is the key for happiness.  We have a choice between peace and fear.  Make your own rules, forget "ought" and "should".  Find your authentic self.

Mary Lou Cook was my first mentor in community organizing and progressive politics.  She was the kind of person people dream of being.  She was brave, thoughtful, and kind.  She lived peace and was a great example of that reality.  MLC was human, she had her trials and tribulations, as do we all.  She showed me how to rise above during countless hours in the sitting area of her bedroom.

Co-organizing the Dennis Kucinich for President Campaign in 2003, galvanized us into a great thinking, feeling, being of action.  MLC provided the spiritual power of tapping into the universe for decision making via our discussions.  I provided the "down on the ground" data and made our visions happen.  We were a real team.

Everyone who knows MLC has a story about her.  Yesterday, at her memorial, I heard lots of them.  I also heard the facts about her.  But, I want this piece to illuminate WHO she was - not in context of any other person.

MLC had a book of names and phones number (something most of us can no longer imagine).  This was her book of real world power.  She had the numbers of the movers and shakers, stars and politicians, spiritual leaders and 1%er CEOs. Every one of them was at MLC's beck and call.

Why?  Because she listened.  And, gave "consejos".  Consejos may translate from Spanish to English as advice, but that's not really the gist of it.  It's that life advice that only the most wise of our grandmothers can give that I define as consejos.  Mary Lou Cook listened and she gave consejos.  It's a lost art.  Something of a bygone era.  MLC's consejos were always right on target.  Sometimes, a person couldn't stand how on target they were!

Mary Lou Cook lived her life as a woman who "ladies" emulated.  She had a grace that was evident in her every movement.  She was deliberate and expected the same of others.  Some people may have thought of her as an old lady when they first met her.  But, the more you were around her, the more you realized that her grace and deliberateness belied the absolutely joyous spirit with unbound energy who lived within that tiny body.  MLC was a sprite clothed as a graceful grandmother.

MLC's eyes twinkled.  Stars were jealous of those blue beauties. They seldom wept, despite the heaviness she often encountered in the world.  Her smile illuminated Santa Fe.  In fact, PNM probably owes her a bundle for that light.

I'll never forget the silver fingernails, and the huge silver octagon-shaped waffle patterned ring that sat on her hand.  That ring was the fly on the wall.  It heard all, saw all, knew all.  Her daughter, Karen, now wears it.  It hold so much of us - those whom Mary Lou mentored.

MLC paid attention.  She knew who and what belonged where.  She knew what timing meant.  She was able to speed things up or slow them down if needed.  She made sure things happened as they should.

I said before that Mary Lou Cook was human.  But, in writing this, I now wonder - was she really?  So much of her was from a place beyond the physical world. I've always called MLC the Grand Dame of Spirituality.  I can't wait to see her work as pure spirit, now.

Mary Lou Cook was my mentor.  She called me sister.  I live by her words and in her spirit!  Te quiero mucho, MLC!  Que descanse en paz, comadre!


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