Simon turns 29 on April 3rd!

Dear Simon,

I love studying the collage of photos I put together for your 18th birthday. I know there have been photos since then, but these are easily accessible and reflect the time that I was with you a whole lot more than I have been in the last 11 years!  Here’s a sampling of one corner of it.  I celebrate your life and my gratitude for being your mom.  What I love about you Simon:

• Your quiet attentiveness to details
• Your inner musical rhythm
• Your reliability
• Your engineering skills shared with the world
• Your sober lifestyle
• Your gentle spirit and generosity

I celebrate YOU!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By4dX48YOv5GLUVnV2J3d0k1UDg read more

March 8, 2018

For Wild Wind Journey Day, on June 10th in Atlanta, Barbara’s mission is to learn the alluring drum rhythm of her song Wild Wind and have a chime that rings at just the right time in Perfect Love. I want to make sure that she feels the part as my Forgiveness Walks muse, contributing the five transformative songs of Walk for a Singing Heart which will guide us through our afternoon’s exploration into courage. In Wild Wind Journey Day, Barbara and I will entice you to invoke something fulfilling that you’re dreaming of doing. Through Nature, color, song, and supportive emotional clearing, we will entice you to step boldly into your Wild Wind. read more

March 7, 2018

Designing this summer’s journey has been a roller coaster ride! Several itineraries have taken the stage, been proposed, envisioned, and evaluated. I sadly let go of my Ridgerunning job for this summer, replacing it with a progression of family visits and long distance walking. Now, yet another version calls! It evokes my allegiance to family to take center stage, letting other passions wait in the wings for another season.

My mom needs assistance!

So, I’m now looking at spending my summer with her in Ohio! read more

February 25, 2018

I just got off the phone with Barbara, my Forgiveness Walks muse! We’re planning a dynamic and exhilarating event and YOU’RE INVITED!  We’re doing a reprise of Wild Wind Songfest that was so much fun a couple of years ago! Mark your calendar for Sunday, June 10 in the Atlanta area and join us for Wild Wind Journey Day!  

Barbara encouraged me to change the title to something that emphasizes that this event is truly a journey into our hearts, way more than singing songs. It’s an in-person version of my Walk for a Singing Heart which I offer as an audio program supported by phone calls during your walk. read more

February 20, 2018

This was one of the hardest choices I’ve made in a while! I have loved my ridgerunning job, fulfilling 7 seasons in two different sections of Virginia. I remember one day on the job halting suddenly in a grove of red spruce on the slope of Bluff Mountain saying, “I’ve done it! I’m earning my living hiking!”  At the end of that season, I climbed up to a favorite outcrop on Spy Rock, set up my  camera with a ten-second timer and raised my arms in celebration of my season. A few weeks ago, a friend wrote asking if she could use that photo as a model for her vision of freely walking in mountains following her knee surgery.  What a perfect testimony to the power of that moment for me having walked into my vision!  Yes! Ridgerunning has been a fulfilling summer job! read more

February 7, 2018

Walking 32 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail sure is a good way to test the idea of walking for half the summer! A twenty-mile day yesterday, followed by 12 miles today reminded me that walking in Nature is my favorite way to live.

Today’s walk even included getting on a scheduled coaching call, with John contentedly waiting, and bantering about ideas afterward. “I can work on my business from the trail!” I thought.

Not only that, two women from my Facebook community wrote directly to me with their questions about the trail. “Women are seeking me out for suggestions and coaching while I’m out walking! I’m walking in service!” read more

February 6, 2018

With 10,000 miles of hiking under my feet, I am surprised when I forget something! But yesterday I did. My sunhat. What did I do?

Improvised!

Check out the hat I fashioned from my neck scarf and a three-pronged stick! Well, it loomed goofy, especially with the projectile poking out from my head. But, it worked! Don’t quit!

Improvise! What’s a story you have of improvising to save the day?

Forgot my hat? Improvise!

February 5, 2018

“Today is the day we could celebrate making a glorious choice and having a blessingway for our summer adventure,” I said when the waking music played this morning. It is the day John heard that our Ridgerunning boss wants to know if I want the 19-week job (with John subbing for me for three weeks while I babysit my grandson.)

“But, we haven’t done that, have we?” He replied.

A full conversation ensued, which thrilled me as a sign of progress in our communication! We even talked about money, and he stayed in the conversation, and we even concluded with words instead of stormy silence. Yay! read more