First dear one, wow...freaking wow.>:D<  I was so rivetted to reading this...I was sucked into your moment of darkness and revelation...

Terri, I understand your visual..and relationship with Butterfly Woman...it's so similar to mine with my Wounded One. As I've said, I personally feel this is powerful work...to look into our Self and SEE us, all our parts...it's scary and brilliant as the same time.

Thank you for sharing Terri...I know it's hard to share this, but as you said, it's you, and to me, the realness of people is the most treasurable.:x

I'm really curious to how many others find such immediate effects of this kind of work? 

xo

It just occurred to me...

my sadness with this whole "empty nest" business

has a lot to do with cherishing each piece of each day

when our own children invite us, encourage us to play,

to leave our big girls pants at the door and just play.

I miss those play times and the inner conversations with my goofy self.

I still keep a nerf gun in my office desk, right next to my remote control fart machine.

And when my younger me is still able to bring my coworkers to the brink of wetting their big girl and big boy pants, and they have big tears running down their cheeks and they are holding their stomachs because the belly laughs hurt.....

When we are able to take off  the masks and let down the walls......

When we are in the moment, right smack in the moment,

nothing else exists. We are as real as we get. We are truly authentic and imperfect.                   There are no pretentions. No worries. No "what will they think?"

All of us are present. Each of the bits of us that we've always been. We just are.

So, I need to figure out how to bring all those bits back together, to invite them all out to play and to just keep that nest filled for whenever I need it.

That's what I'll do......

Yeah, I think so

that sounds like such an awesome vehicle for making this journey terri

and you know what?   I think we can save a lot of fuel when we car pool

and on those days that we need reminding..... when we're running low on our own fuel capacity...

we'll know how to stay on the journey and keep moving forward 

see there, we're better all ready just for sharing

How awesome is it that we can all do some carpooling when we live in different time zones? Very awesome I think!!

You know, I just have this amazing feeling that you're teaching me some of the most valuable lessons I will ever learn while we're on these drives. I wish that we could just get in the car and just go and go and drive and talk and stop here and there to simply rest and reflect on these lessons..... and thank the Universe for the opportunity of riding and talking and learning and sharing and growing and smiling and waving at the people who are driving by, cuz they know what we're doing and they're cheering for us.

and when we pull up to the car next to ours at the stop sign, I'll be rolling down my window.....

"pardon me sir..... but do you have any grey poupon?"

he'll smile and giggle, and as he reaches out to offer us the nasty stuff in the little jar... his grey poupon day just turned around, because he felt our happiness... our confidence....our enthusiasm for life. His grey poupon morphs in to a rainbow of colors.....lucky charms with a bunch of special prizes in the bottom of the box.... "It's those magic magnifying glasses!!!",  the kind that when gazed through, changes the perspective of the entire landscape......makes everything look bright and colorful, defined and brlliant, hopeful and peaceful.... oh the MAGIC of it all. There's a whole box of magic looking glasses. enough for each of us, the man in his car and for each person we meet at every intersection on our travels.

And as we thank him for his gift...and as he thanks us for changing up his grey to a whole new rainbow of colors, he asks... "why the tears sweet girl?" ,,,,,and i point to my driver....

I have a hard time answering because I get choked up when I cry - doesn't matter if they're happy tears or sad tears, they all choke me up....." It's because of her - the other sweet girl who drives the car...." "my dear friend, Terri - she put this whole trip together because she has so much love in her soul and so much fuel to keep us on the road ."  ..."and it's because of the rest of our fellow travelers - May May and Sunflower Woman.... and because of Jymi and Laurel and Sheri and Stitched and because of Catharine and Akasa" - it's because of all of us that I'm crying - every piece of all of us!"

"Because my heart is so full, because we are all so much more as a whole than we are by ourselves and because I know that this journey can't last forever and because I don't want it to ever end."

The old man shook his head from side to side...with a touch of disappointment slipping out through his eyes.     "You still have your magic glasses don't you?" Don't ever lose those powerful, magic glasses. Probably all should put them on one of those long cords, like the ones that old ladies wear around their necks so they don't lose their readers. Keep those glasses handy because you're going to need them from time to time. And every time that you or one of your friends can't make the trip together and you need their smiles, their love and their caring to be with you - just stick those glasses on and turn your world around. Look hard and you'll see them....they'll always be with you when you look into magic." 

And you might wonder, "where was Butterfly Woman on this journey?"    Well, she's the little bobble head dancer on the dash board...... guiding the car, dancing and singing and covering her eyes every time Terri takes one those sharp turns a bit too quick. She knows deep down inside her bones/springs that there's not a one of us that would ever let any harm come to her.... but I think she plays it up some so that we'll all take turns holding her tight, touching her face with our fingertips ever so gently and letting her know that she is so, so special and loved bigger than infinity.

Man I love these road trips and the company I keep. Thank you guys......

Yeah! Jymi's driving~

I can now sit back and let the road unfold before me like a song~1

and Susies singing

while terri fiddles with the radio

and laurel lets the wind play with her hair!

whooo-hooo!

are we there yet????       are we there yet????

oh yeah......there is no there.... there is only here and now

It's a bus I tell you! with butterflies obviously painted on the side...

So.... there's this campground near Newport, Oregon that I just love. I think it's called Agate Beach campground. I stayed there for days with my uncle when I was young and it was amazing.  As I recall, there were plenty of buses there then, so I don't think they're gonna mind if they see this big yellow flying, floating, driving machine pull in. We could take a couple of days...enjoy the ocean and the beach, fly us some kites, take in the wax museum, paint this puppy and sit around our campfire telling stories and doing some healthy healing.

I've got lots of spray paints, but I'm no artist. If somebody can freehand some outlines though....I can fill them in with colors and make them real purty. This is gonna be the COOLEST transporter of beautiful souls and memory makers..... I've been dreaming of doing this since I was little....really little.....so thank you guys for building dreams. Now you have me crying....but they're good tears....the kind that wash the grime from your heart and clean things up for a better today. I get choked up and have a hard time getting my words out when I cry and this peanut butter and jelly sandwich is making it even harder. So, I'm gonna go give this heart a shower and think of some of my best, happiest stories to share with you all tonight at the camp fire. I hope you all are thinking of some of your best and happiest stories too.

Okay, I know we haven't even left yet, but I want to tell a story; maybe practice up for the campfire nights. So.....some of you may have noticed my little picture next to my name on FB... the Dream Catcher. Every room of my house has numerous Dream Catchers, especially over the windows. I have always had a certain level of comfort in having them placed, having them cleansed and blessed through prayer and smudging and Knowing that they are there for safety and protection.

My paternal grandmother was of mixed descent, part Lakota Sioux and part caucasian. She was raised on the reservation and her grandparents and her father told her many stories of her people and her ancestry and this is one she shared with me and it goes something like this.

The Story of the Dream Catcher 

Legend has it that Grandmother Spider sang the Universe into existence, but was deeply saddened by the tragedies that came to Be in the big Universe and the resulting bad dreams of her human children.

Grandmother Spider wept and thought.... she desperately wanted to protect her children from the evils of the Universe and the bad dreams that kept them awake and in fear at night. Just as she had sung the Universe into existense, Grandmother Spider sang from her heart and her Spirit and was brought to a place of Knowing what to do for her children. So she set out to make the Knowing real.

She went to the Willow Tree and asked him for some of his branches. She then went to the Eagle and asked him for some of his powerful feathers.

She then bent the branches into a circle to connect all points and all peoples of the Universe. She began to spin her web of Wisdom around all of the branches to catch her children's bad dreams.

Grandfather Sun's morning rays burned away all of the bad dreams that had been tangled in the web during their sleep. Any that were left turned into dew and trickled down the great Eagle feather and were given back to Mother Earth.

I have always loved the telling of this story, especially by my own grandmother. So when I am going to be sleeping someplace strange or unknown to me, like a campground with lots of neighbors that I don't know.....I like to bring along one or two of my small dream catchers and place them by my head and at my door or window. I think it brings a comfort that I might not have otherwise.

I love to make dream catchers in all shapes and sizes and I have a bunch of them here. If you guys would like, I can bring enough on our trip that everyone could have two or three to catch all the bad dreams that sometimes like to creep in from the Universe and make us weary.