Once upon a time there was a beautiful young child – a dark haired, sweetly dimpled young girl, born into a family of parents who were both surprised and delighted by her arrival. She brought into this world with her a deep joy, a generous heart, and a compassionate spirit. She also brought with her generations of sorrow and loss. Both her parents had each lost a parent at a tender young age. Her arrival bore with it their own sorrows, grief and mourning – their questions of ‘how long shall we live?’ At each birthday she was loved and held and celebrated yet she sensed in her soul a deep sadness from the beginning of time that was mysteriously hidden, yet at the same time revealed in and through her parents faces. Years passed, birthdays passed, life within her family. Christmas celebrations with cousins, traveling adventures to her ancestors lands: Canada, England and Scotland. Then a deep darkness covered the land. Between the tender, growing and developing ages of 12 – 15 this dark haired, joyful maiden encountered deep family loss and suffering. Her heart was deeply wounded, hurt and abandoned – she hid her orphan self deep, deep away and tried in vain to not feel, to neglect her very soul, and become someone else. The deaths of an aunt, an uncle, 2 grandparents and the near deaths of her younger brother and father wounded, hurt  and assailed the young maidens heart.

Now, many years later she hears: “Awake my soul and heart to walk in healing, to live life fully. Know the power, presence and gift of the one you attempted in your pain to leave behind. Embrace your very self like a tree with very, very deep roots – with tombstones surrounding it that merely serve as a place to mark the ones you lost in this physical world, yet not absent in this spiritual world and sphere. Enter the thin places, go deep, allow their presence to speak, to nurture, to hold hands with the dimple faced dark haired orphan who felt abandoned, betrayed and crushed. Let new life unfold, sink deep, reach high and blossom and hold others and their stories. For this once upon a time girl is held by many, loved by many and has deep roots and powerful branches and life to share.”