Coffee with Cindy Lund

Fifty Cups of Coffee #15: Cindy Lund
Date: April 5, 2024
Location: Zoom

How we know each other

Cindy and I used to live a couple of houses away from each other on the same street. Our kids went to the same elementary school, and we would sometimes play in each other’s Bunco groups. We also used to go walking around our neighborhood with another neighbor mom, but then the other mom and I both moved and we no longer all live on the same street.

What Cindy is doing now

Cindy lives in Tigard, Oregon and is the mom of two teenagers. Last year, she joined the Mask and Mirror community theatre in Tigard, Oregon. She got a part in the play Inherit the Wind and recently wrapped up performances.

Three questions

During these Fifty Cups of Coffee chats, I ask each person the same three questions. The reasoning behind each is as follows:

Question 1 – Social media makes it easy for other people to think that they know us, when truthfully, we all only see a small sliver of someone’s life and who they really are. This is the interviewee’s chance to share something that is important to them that, for whatever reason, other people may not know.

Question 2 – We all have fears, no matter who are are or where we are in life. This helps connect us and show we are all more alike than we are different.

Question 3 – I believe the answer to this question helps show each person’s true values, passions, and their why in life.

There are no right or wrong answers to any of these. I’m including each person’s answers in first person. Their answers have been edited from my notes for length and clarity, but these are their words.

What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?

“I feel like I’m much older than I am, dealing with medical conditions – and I don’t want to define myself by ailments. I’ve slowly been figuring out each medical thing so I can be more productive or so I can do more, and I finally decided I was going to do something at night that is my own thing. I finally tried out for theatre in November. I really just want to figure out something for each medical thing so I stop thinking about all the time. “

What is your deepest fear?

“Bees! But for a long time, my deepest fear was simply death. I just had a huge thing with death. Part of it was because I couldn’t breathe well and I didn’t know why. So we finally figured out what it was and thank god there was a diagnosis. But then I had a friend’s parent die and it was awful. I feel as human beings we’re nicer to our canine friends than our human friends in a way. If you see your dog suffering, you’re not going to just sit there, right? But we allow humans to suffer. Nobody wants to die after suffering a long time, we all want to go peacefully. To have your end of life be a long period of suffering — it would be awful to go like that.”

If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your life?

“First and foremost, my mom who is 89, is on a fixed budget, and unlimited funds would be great to help her out. Pay off her house, give her all all the help she wants, make everything easier, just do what she wants to do and live in her house forever because it’s all taken care of. She likes to travel. Of course traveling with family friends would be great. They live so far away – 2,000 miles away – it would be great to have another house close to each other in Wisconsin.”

“Think of all the people you could help out the different charities, all the people around the world globally to get started in their own lives, whatever it takes. I’d give micro-loans so women globally can get their own business started and get out from oppressive society. There are so many things you could do I don’t even know where to start or stop. Mainly I’d try to get other people what they need to get their lives started, and do the fun things you want to do which is spend more time with family and friends, and travel.” 

Lessons Learned

It had been a while since Cindy and I had gone on one of our neighborhood walks, so this was a great time to catch up! Here are a few lessons learned from our chat:

• Never assume and always give other people grace. I’ve known Cindy for a while and we’ve talked about her health issues, but if you saw her or interacted with her, it’s not like you could automatically tell what she was going through. And I think it’s important to always remember that other people are probably going through something that you have no clue about. So to always treat people with respect, give them grace, and simply try to bring a little everyday joy into their lives. Because you never know. And I also believe in karma, and someday those little moments will come back to shine on your life when you might need them the most.
• Do something for you. It may not always be easy, especially as women and moms, but it’s 100% worth it and so important to do something just for you. Not something that would also benefit your kids or your partner or even your other family and friends, but something just for you and you alone.
• Try something new. I’m so proud of Cindy for putting herself out there and trying out for community theatre! One of my favorite expressions is “life begins outside of your comfort zone.” Although it’s so easy for us to get into our comfortable routines, it’s so important to bust out of them and grow by putting ourselves in new situations, no matter how uncomfortable they may be at first.

Learn more about Cindy

If you’re in the Tigard, Oregon area, check out Mask and Mirror Community Theatre. You might just see Cindy on stage!

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