Old Friends and New Eyes

This week brought dear friends to visit whom I’ve known since 2001, back in my Seattle days. We took our Reiki Master Teacher training together in 2002, and they are among a very small set of people I still know from my brain injury days. When we met, we soon realized we had lived on the same block in Evanston, IL … but two years apart. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Wendy also lived in New York City back in my pre-TBI days when I traveled there every other week for work. Our lives have mixed and almost matched all over the country for decades.

The Hess family moved outside Charlottesville, VA about 17 years ago, and David and I saw artist and engineer, Bill Hess, a few years ago when we still lived in Goshen, IN, while taking care of David’s parents. Bill passed through en route to a glass installation in Michiana, but I hadn’t seen Wendy Vigdor-Hess for 14 years! Bill and a newly pregnant Wendy drove up to PA on one my trips to Bethlehem when I still lived in Tahoe. It was so great to meet their children — Sol and Thea — in person.

We had a whirlwind two-day visit on their way to a long weekend in Chicago. Above, you can see us all in Muskegon, Michigan, where Bill and Wendy got engaged so many years ago. We actually got to see the very spot. I’ve talked with Wendy on the phone during those 14 years apart, but it’s always so much fun when in-person visits just pick right up as though no time at all has passed.

Sol and Thea are very tapped in kids. When they entered our home and looked around at my portal doors, Sol said, “These remind me of that painting we have.” Back in 2010, Wendy commissioned a “porta-portal,” a door-like portal on canvas board instead of an actual door. You can see Divine Doorway Number 14, “Temperance,” here. Wendy used to tell me how much the portal fascinated their children, and it was fun to see the gears shift into realization that I was that friend. Thea, in particular, is quite the photographer, but their entire family is very intuitive and creative.

David and I call our home Dra’Faven (short for Dragon Faery Haven). Indeed, the house and yard are filled with faeries, dragons, orgone, crystals, portal doors/paintings, nature tapestries, Runes, trees, water imagery, and plants. We love it, but when you live somewhere, sometimes you stop noticing all the everyday magic. Thea and Wendy went through the house and gardens, snapping photos from their perspective. It brought a new level of magic and beauty to my awareness. Their originals are much higher quality than the lower pixels on my blog, but for faster loading and blog storage, I always use smaller file sizes. Just sharing a few glimpses here:

Thea and Wendy took dozens of photos of secret little spots, and their fresh perspective continued on our walk at Asylum Lake Preserve. I showed them what David and I call The Ganesha Tree — a huge oak with both an elephant’s trunk and a hidden face.

Wendy found a third face in the elephant trunk part of the tree’s trunk. Can you see it?

 

She also managed to snap a shot of this jolly being I love. He hangs out on the other side of the tree:

Do you see the profile of his nose, mouth, eye and beard? The woodland spirits and Fae were even more “out” than usual in these woods. While I listened to Sol identify various plants, Wendy took some secret photos of this faery, too:

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye. Hopefully, we’ll see them much sooner than 14 years from now, or these little wise ones will be all grown up!

I’ve noticed this theme of reconnection with a twist appearing in our own lives, as well as the lives of clients and friends. Full circle visits to people and places serve as a touchstone to show how much we’ve grown and also get us back in touch with our core Self that remains constant. Much love and safe travels to the Hess family. It’s always such a joy to see old friends and an awake and magical next generation. Big blessings all around!