Don’t Say a Word

Dear Readers, I am standing for the courage and the tenacity of this nineteen-year-old woman. In 1968 there is no term for post-traumatic stress. Her support system helping to ferry her through these rocky straits are the letter from Alice and the two books. I honor the time it...

Carried By Words

Dear Reader, I was mistaken … PLEASE NOTE: there is no warning with this post. Read on … This listening role that I have been given by the younger self is revealing a fascinating aspect of the creative process. As a trained artist and an intuitive painter, I allow...

Intermission

Dear Readers, This week we push the pause button on behalf of my younger self and her well-being. To support her and to maintain her dignity this is an appropriate place for:   ‘INTERMISSION’ At this point in her story, three empowering gifts, comprised of two books and an...

Alice is My Wonder Land

Dear Reader, I am remembering my commitment to my nineteen-year-old younger self. I share her story in her words. It is a story of courage as well as confusion. She is imperfect and deeply damaged. I hurt for her yet I remember that there is nothing to fix. I...

Tuesday Afternoon

He whom life fulfills, Though he remains a child, Is immune to the poisonous sting Of insects, to the ravening Of wild beasts or to the vultures’ bills. From Verse 55  Tao te Ching There is a quality of ‘no-time and no-place’ to these days. First thing in the...

Torn You Can Mend

Dear Readers, the nineteen-year-old continues to experience a year of separation. Separation from home and family, teen pregnancy, separation from her infant. She loses a sense of direction through displacement, entrapment, rape, and soul murder. Because of the LSD ‘medicine’, she becomes separated from her day to day consciousness,...

The Glory of Friendship

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson  ...

The Natural Rhythm of a Day

Dear Readers ~ I, and the nineteen-year-old girl, appreciate your eye, your heart, and your comments. If you are new to this blog I invite you to circle around to the beginning chapter. To recap; this is a story of recovery and discovery which comes forward as part of...

To Care, To Be Fair, To Be Humble

Dear Readers, This week, June 8, marks the 52nd anniversary of my son’s birth. The night yard will be filled with fireflies dazzling my eye as I recall the magic and the miracle of all that life brings. We are surrounded by what in Buddhism we learn to see...

From Wonder into Wonder

  If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment. Henry David Thoreau   I wake inside a sleeping bag. I’m on the floor in the front room of the farmhouse. Band equipment fills the small space; guitars, amplifiers, drums, tambourines, keyboard, mike...