I had the amazing gift of Margot last week.  Jess brilliantly came up with Moncure Camp for Margot and prepared her for months about what it was going to be like to be away from Mom, Dad and Aidan.  Margot understood that GPops, Granny and Arlo would be the camp counselors and that Moncure is a little different from Arlington, VA and her busy life there.

Jess, Dan and Aidan brought Margot down on a Saturday and we got to have our typical family fun in the pond, big dinner, visit to The Plant and loads of chaos, catching up and sweet, sweet connection with this family.

Margot knew that her parents and little brother would be leaving and she would be staying in the very tall bed at Granny’s that requires a catapult to get into.  GPops would be up the hill if she needed anything and Arlo of course was right down the hall. 

My fear was that when her parents left and it was bedtime, she would freak out and we would be up all night talking this out.  Zafer and Arlo would need a midnight pickup for years until they were used to being without their parents.  I envisioned sleepless nights for a week.

Well, not the fearless Margot. 

She told me that she would need a midnight snack.  The girl is a great salesperson.  As if that were a normal thing at her house.  I of course, was ready to do anything to make the first night go smoothly.   “What entails a midnight snack, Margot?”  “Well, a banana, an apple, cookies of course and maybe some crackers.”  The idea is that a plate of food is by her bed for when she happens to wake up and then she has a snack. There were definitely cookie crumbs in her bed all week.

Coming up!

I told Margot that my Granny Ruby would give me warm milk at night if I couldn’t sleep.  She thought that was a good idea.  So, warm milk became a ritual every night and we would go over the day and get ready for bedtime.  It was a calming beautiful thing for both of us.

The song “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” by U2 came on the pandora station and Margot and I started belting it out together.  That somehow helped our night and became our song of the week.  It’s in a popular kids movie and that girl can sing!

Jess always has Margot’s gorgeous hair looking pretty perfect…in braids or something to keep it out of her face.  Not having a lot of experience braiding and kind of forgetting that showers are important, we might have gone a few days with just jumping in the pond and I looked at Margot at one point and thought, wow, she reminds me of Pippi Longstocking.  My childhood hero.  We did a facetime with Jess, who upon seeing Margot was a little horrified at her lack of showering and hair care.  I started to work on regular baths at that point.

The week entailed lots of dress up, jewelry store, puzzles, playing hotel (which we really did due to needs at our AIRBNB, Arlo teaching the carbon cycle, picking produce at Little Pond farm, ballet class, Pippi Longstocking movies, meeting new friends, swimming in the pond, screen printing at Hempsmith, adventures with GPops and Arlo, watching movies with Carrie, learning about business at The Plant and helping, dinner with the Lilly Den crew, navigating country life and putting on our glow in the dark angel wings at night and running around the woods.

I drove Margot back to Arlington which is no small feat…7 hours of traffic and car charging.  The girl handled it like a champ and when I was getting frustrated, she talked me out of it. 

She mentioned McDonalds and I said, “Margot, Granny doesn’t do McDonalds, we look for a lovely, fancy restaurant to have lunch”.  Well, needing to charge the car and not having any food, we ended up walking through waste high grass to get to a Wendy’s fast food restaurant.  I was a little defeated and apologized to Margot for the lunch.  She looked around positively and said “Granny, this is pretty fancy”.  Love that girl. 

Can’t wait for next year.   

Emotions and memories from Colorado were intense.   I’m happy that Zafer fell in love with those beautiful, majestic mountains.

It seems your heart will only let in what you can process. 

This was a mixture of acceptance and another dose of denial.

Zafer had the flat irons tattooed on his back unbeknownst to his parents.

I pulled into Niwot, Colorado.  (adorable little town next to Boulder and means “left hand”) to stay with my hilarious cousin Charlie, Allie, their kids, Julian and Hudson.   I always looked up to Charlie when I was a kid.  He would take us out in his car in the cold night, drive fast and roll all the windows down while Bruce Springsteen was cranked.  I continued the tradition of “freezeouts” with my kids.

When Zafer and I first went to Boulder to check out the school, we got caught in a huge rainstorm before the days of Lyft and showed up at my cousins soaking wet.   Not knowing Allie all that well at the time, she warmly welcomed the two wet rats into her house and dried us off and fed us.  I never imagined that she and Charlie would have to pack up Zafer’s belongings and pick out his clothing to be buried in.  Allie is one of the most nurturing people I know.  Zafer became very close with the whole family.  One time Allie gave him the job of looking after Hudson who was about 5 while she put on a stressful school event…the annual Sock Hop.  Zafer thought Hudson was fine with her friends and so he left to take Julian to get pizza with his friends.  Allie lost her shit on Zafer.  Zafer called me to tell me about the “situation”.  I laughed.  He laughed because I’ve done the same to him around PepperFest time.   Z adored that family and I’m grateful they had their short time together.

Charlie and Allie go out of their way to make you feel at home and before I knew it, they had arranged for massage, a facial and of course a hair cut to get the knots out of my hair.

Lunch with Kristi, Kathie Russell’s beautiful sister was a highlight. She too had a sweet relationship with Zafer.  She once took he and Greyson and another relative hiking in the Grand Canyon.  It was one of the super hard hikes that lasts about 8 days.  Not for the inexperienced.  Zafer called me to tell me he was skipping class for a week to go on this hike.  It seemed like he knew what he was doing, so I encouraged him.  He packed bags of rice, beans and a special plastic carton to keep a dozen eggs.  This was not particularly helpful for a week in the canyon.  Kristi told me stories of how Zafer would go ahead on hard climbs and help the others up.  When Z got out of the canyon and had cell coverage, he called me screaming in the phone “Mom, I LOVE YOU!”.  He said he almost died a few times, but he made it out and was so happy to be alive.

Big snowflakes fell while Kristi and I cried a bit in a lovely Boulder bar.

Niki, Zafer’s roommate and dear friend has become part of our family.  We have a bond that will never be broken.  She unfortunately found Zafer the morning of his death.  Niki was like the housemother.  Andrew, Max, Zafer, Ally and Niki were a family.  They cooked together, hiked together and had a full band in the basement of their college house.  Zafer picked up guitar from Andrew.
Niki came up to Boulder.  She also hooked me up with a local Shaman/Reiki practitioner.  The woman worked on me for awhile and moved some energy.   She told me I needed to forgive myself.  My biggest block.  As I left, I was dizzy as hell.

Niki was in class one day when her roommate Max texted her that they had found a new roommate and he thought she would like him.

Strange name:  Zafer Estill.  But cool dude.

Niki, obviously bored in class, started checking social media for Zafer.  Nothing.  She googled him and up comes tamisgreatadventure.com (my sabbatical 6 years ago) and she gets pulled into the blog.  Again, class must not have been that intriguing.  She finds Zafer’s photos…his baby photos and then his current photo.  She realizes to her horror that he is sitting behind her and getting up to leave.  His photo is big on her computer screen and she doesn’t want him to know she is stalking him.  But that is how she met Zafer.  Through this blog kind of.

Almost seems mystical.

My little cousin, Anabel is graduating from Colorado College and her senior art project just happened to be about the same time I was there.  So, luckily, all my cousins were in Colorado for this event.  Pamela, Pat and also Arlo flew in for the long weekend.  We drove down to Colorado Springs in the snow.  Niki found an Alice in Wonderland restaurant in a cave and formerly a mortuary with the perfect drink menu.

We casually walked over to see Anabel’s set up.  I was not expecting much being out of the loop.  I thought it might be a few paintings or a couple of sculptures.  We walked into a gallery at the school where the entire room was woven together.  I cannot explain how beautiful and unexpected the art was, as the humble soft spoken Anabel explained her process.  She had gathered tons of recycled fabric, people all around school donated to her, she hand-dyed all of it.  She then wove it on a loom in sections and then spent Six 13-hour days hanging the show.

There was an abstract video accompanying the show.  As you walked through, it was like floating in a huge woven cloud.  We were part of the installation.  We helped put on the reception and a crowd gathered.  She was graded and critiqued.  The show had to be taken down right after the event.  We all volunteered to help this massive project.

Zafer’s roommates all drove down with a truckload of musical instruments including a full drum set and electric guitar.  They pulled in and quickly set up as we pulled fabric off the walls.
Arlo jumped on vocals and guitar.  Niki naturally played harmonica and drums, no problem.   Hudson and Julian and Pamela sang.  It was a little hectic at times, but filled my soul up.  We all agreed there was a metaphor here….Between Anabel’s show and how Zafer brought us all together.

The day after Zafer died, Lyle reminded me of the Fates from Greek mythology.  One fate would cut a thread here so that something up ahead happened.  It was all choreographed.  It made me feel a tiny bit better.

From Colorado, I went to La Jolla/San Diego, California.  There was a plane involved.  This country is HUGE.  My old body needed time out of the car.  I was whisked from the airport straight to a birthday celebration for Charlie, one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met.  Phifer had put on a tennis round robin for him and I now know a lot of Phife’s friends and they are awesome.  It was non stop in California.  Going from snow to sunny and 70 did not suck.

We hit the massage and pedicures, then the beach. We had several dinner parties and went for a hike in a nearby town.  One day we spent at Balboa Park, sort of the Central Park of San Diego.  Tons of small museums including the Museum of Man; Cannibals, Myth & Reality.  I don’t know why I was so interested in this exhibit, but it was fascinating.  Basically there are reports of most cultures eating their people for either religious reasons or to gain the power of their enemies or just to survive.  Also, calling people savage cannibals made it easier to enslave them.

Lyle called to talk about a situation at home and I explained to him that all our ancestors have been cannibals, had an uncontrollable laughing attack and he had to hang up on me.

There may have been edibles involved. 

Phifer has a way of making everything fun.  We wore ourselves out a bit, but it was well worth spending a week with that rowdy crew.  Including the rowdy pets and her son Edward who is growing up like a weed.  Fabulous pianist and has a depth about him that most teens do not.

Back to Colorado, a night with the cousins and on to Canyon, Texas with Zafer’s skis and boots shoved in my beetle.
Bringing them home.  Surreal.

I’m learning a lot, gaining clarity and extremely grateful for the hospitality and kindness of all of these beautiful souls.

Leaving Montgomery, Alabama, I knew there was going to be some weather, but I had no idea there were torrential thunderstorms and tornadoes.  I had this feeling I needed to get out, so I grabbed all my stuff and started throwing in the car.  By then, it was pouring.  I was drenched and the car was drenched with wet luggage.  For about 4 or 5 hours it was extremely difficult driving. Sometimes I had to put on my flashers with the other cars so we could see each other.

What was supposed to be a 6 and a half hour drive became a 9 and a half hour drive with lots of accidents and it WAS NOT FUN.  I was so happy to get to Kaitlin’s apartment. She and Samir put on a lovely dinner.  They are passionate about their work to say the least.  I got an inside look at their organizing to help workers in Louisville and at Walmart.  I learned some things from Kaitlin as I always do.

Louisville is beautiful and a very cute city.  I stayed downtown in an adorable Beds and Bikes airbnb.  We went to a rare Picasso art show in town and the Muhammad Ali Museum.  The Ali Center was incredible.  It was an extension of what I had just seen in Montgomery.  Of course, Muhammad was the pretty, heavy weight boxing champion that came home from Italy and was given a heroes welcome in Louisville.  He was still not allowed to eat lunch in a restaurant.

I loved the story of how he refused to go to Vietnam.  He gave up his title and his passport and was possibly going to jail.  4 years later the Supreme Court set him free.

 “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?”

A stop in at Angel’s Envy for some bourbon and a walk on the 4 Bridges under a full moon…it was a fabulous visit.

Next stop was Chicago.  I rolled into town just in time to get to Kelly Anchor’s play “Deep Fried Refried” at the 31st year old Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, longest running fringe theater in Chicago.  Kelly juxtaposed Tennessee Williams with her southern family trauma around addiction and physical abuse.  Unplanned pregnancies, love, passion, dreams, indiscrepancies, were portrayed with humour and sadness.  Kelly’s family were the actors in this astonishingly brave play.  Her southern mother, Lynn, Mike, her husband from Chicago and her son, Max.  The talent in that family is stunning.

I think something Kelly and I have in common; when we are going through something, we want to share and bring everyone along.

Kelly’s day job is an elementary school counselor for a very diverse school with all types of ethnicities.  I had the privilege of attending her grief group where we built things out of play dough and talked to the kids.  One young boy had just lost his mother, another little girl was a Syrian refuge and her father had been assassinated.

Kelly is the most humblest badass I’ve ever seen.  Not to mention she knows every delicious restaurant to eat at in Chicago.

I’ve just realized that I’m 54 and driving across the country is actually really hard on your body.  I stayed an extra couple of days to recoup and had the chance to go tour the Frank Lloyd Wright House in Oak Park, IL.  Fascinating architect, not my style but he was brilliant.  All his furniture he designed looked terribly uncomfortable.  He was known for building a room within a room and making small spaces go into larger spaces (compression to expansion) among other things.  He actually sounded like an arrogant asshole.  Quite the eccentric influencer.

From there, the Art Institute of Chicago was a must see.  When Zafer and Arlo were little we used to play the board game “Masterpiece” and they learned the classic art pieces.  I took them to the Art Institute when they were quite young and they ran from room to room like they were finding Easter eggs with all the Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Seurat paintings.

A quick dinner at La Sardine’s with my cousin’s niece, Stella.  A sophomore at the University of Chicago.  What a joy to visit with this adorable young woman focusing on environmental science.

To solve the sore back issue I went to the Relax my Back store. A tutorial with Tim, the back man, and many dollars later, my car is SET for a road trip.  He had me upside down, laying on mattresses with multiple pillows. I swear…they worked wonders.  He explained posture, muscles, lactic acid, astronauts and gravity like no other.

Next stop is Omaha Nebraska.  I’ve never been to Nebraska and why not?  Who wouldn’t want to go to Omaha in February? Well, I get in late and it’s cold.  I wake up and it’s negative 6 degrees.  I seriously had to google to see if it was safe to go outside.  This southern girl has never been in this kind of cold.  The wind chill they said was more like -45.  I put on all my clothes in my suitcase.  I was a little freaked out that the car wouldn’t start, but good German engineering, and all was fine.  I made it to a critically important massage at the most beautiful healing center in Old Market, a cobblestone part of downtown Omaha.  The cutest place ever.

Tomorrow, I leave for Boulder, Colorado.   A bittersweet place.  A beautiful town that killed my son.  I’m lucky to have all my sweet cousins there, Zafer’s roommate, Niki to process with, Kristi, and Arlo flying in.  I think it will be really really hard and also very healing.

On the way I’ll stop and visit the 600,000 Sandhill Cranes migrating in Kearney, Nebraska.  I’m pretty sure Zafer will be riding with me.     

Today I’m in Montgomery, Alabama to see the The National Memorial for Peace and Justice Museum.  I also went to the Rosa Parks museum which had this cool as hell time machine in which you sat on a bus and it took you back to the 1800’s.  It described the history and where the character of Jim Crow came from and exactly why we are where we are.

Going to the Peace and Justice Museum was heavy.  I knew it would be and yet I was not prepared for the deep punch as I walked into the memorial.  I didn’t quite get the large rectangle cubes with victim’s names and where they were from as I walked in.  I spoke to a staff person who said they researched 4000 lynched victims and they had to have 2 forms of documentation to put their name on the monuments.  Of course that is a small amount of names as most had no documentation or record.  As you continued through the memorial the rectangles became more and more elevated and then I got the symbolism and it was horrific and well done whomever came up with that design.  It made the point about the terror that has been going on since the 1800’s.   They have no way of figuring out the real numbers of lynchings, but it is just a fraction of what are recorded.

The Equal Justice Initiative is about facing the hard facts and history in order to move on.  They are taking on racial and economic injustice.  They just put out the movie Just Mercy written by the founder, Bryan Stevenson. They have taken on the biggest issue in America.   It is truly horrific to think of what these humans had to deal with, and still have to deal with.  I’m humbled and grateful to learn even more.  I’m also grateful to our ongoing Chatham Social Justice Exchange that prepared me for this.

PEOPLE, EVERYONE SHOULD COME HERE TO UNDERSTAND…no matter what color you are.

I had to go to the Hank Williams museum to blow off some steam next door.  He died at age 30.  He made quite an impact in just that time.

Montgomery has a lot to offer.  As I sat in a beautiful farm to fork restaurant tonight where the staff were mainly of color and the customers were mainly very southern white people.  I couldn’t help but think that we have still not come that far.  I overheard conversations of men discussing political strategies and at the same time, the staff seemed happy and empowered and my bone marrow and Caesar salad was amazing.

I started my 6 week journey by going to Charlotte, NC to see my Aunt Julia and cousins Greg and Eddie.   I had not seen them in about 2 decades.  These cousins were adorable as children, albeit they got in a lot of trouble…2 boys and I very much looked up to them.  Fast forward to 2020 and they have two beautiful wives.  Teri is doing amazing work with textiles and also works closely with the homeless population of Charlotte.   (They call her the everyday hero) It was really fun seeing them and I brought them a bottle of Fair Game brandy.  I hope I get to see them again sooner than 2040.

Onward to Atlanta, GA.  I drove in at sunset to that dramatic skyline and came into Vanessa and Doc’s place.  They threw me a party and it was an incredible evening of connecting with Maurice Small and his family and women that I had never met but, will all be coming up to NC soon I’m sure.  They put on a spread of food and drink and we exchanged stories.  One woman was losing her beloved husband to ALS and I could relate because of my neighbor Chris.  We had a raucous evening. When I told them that I was driving across the country they all paused.  Vanessa’s dog, Caesar slept by my side that night.

We headed to Vanessa’s country cabin in the town that Alice Walker is from (Eatonton, GA)  and took a hike by the creek.  Visiting with Vanessa is always incredibly healing.  She is a soul doula and it was perfect to start the sabbatical with this intuitive woman that calls it as it is.  Vanessa has a way of distilling things down and then she makes a potion to make it all work.  I left with 3 potions and a mini cauldron for the trip to burn some sage and bay.  Not to mention her words of wisdom that literally will change my trajectory.  Vanessa only made me cry a couple of times. She has an infectious laugh and energy.  Her mate Doc is super supportive too.   I brought a few of the fresh off the press Hempsmith beanies for them.

A very special urban farm tour was with Maurice Small.  Maurice has been a speaker at Abundance’s climate change conference and has a special place in my heart.  He relocated with his family to Atlanta and is leading the Atlanta Urban Food Forest.  Maurice is serious magic with plants and kids.  He understands the importance of teaching the next generation and they actually listen to him, because he is cool as hell!  I believe he can take discouraged kids and teach the beauty of dirt and plants and solve climate change along with food insecurity.

Bonus was getting to see Jaime at her place of work.  A renovation of a Sears and Roebuck factory into a multi use project of retail, food and beverage and living and co-working space.  So cool to see this as we are embarking on The Plant and Chatham Beverage District in PBO.  Jaime was an early employee of Abundance NC and one of the smartest and most energetic women I know.  Next was my bff from 2^nd grade Melissa who just so happened to be working in Atlanta.  We are basically sisters and it was so fun to connect for dinner.


I’m off to visit Kaitlin, my step-daughter in Louisville, KY next.  Can’t wait.

This sabbatical is exactly what is needed.  Magical in fact.  Every person I meet seems to offer
insights to the next step.

“oh, baby, never ever forget how magical life can be, or is about to be.  Open your eyes, open your heart.  Things are coming.” Tennessee Williams

I really related with this pic of Mona and obviously need a break!

I am setting out tomorrow morning for another epic sabbatical.   6 years ago I embarked on a journey.  I started this blog then as an archive for myself, and it became a way to connect with friends and family and even strangers.  I was completely naive and a different person then.  Many changes have occurred in these 6 years and I feel the need to go find myself again.  I am so grateful for the support and love from everyone and even the understanding.  And the jealousy!  Ha!  So many have said they were envious.  Which is so cute.

I’m driving in my little convertible VW beetle this time.  Last time was an old VW bus; Baby Blue.  She broke down on the reg.  It cost a fortune and I had callouses on my hands from the steering wheel.  The plan is to go to California and back.  I’ll visit friends and family and also have a ton of time alone to think and process this crazy beautiful life that I have created.  I think we all go too fast and don’t really get a minute to think about what is happening and all of a sudden we are old and our kids are grown and I just want things to slow down.

Driving through America is quite a different experience than just touching down in big cities.  You see the poverty, the beautiful countryside, the glory and the struggle.  I’ll do a photo journal of what I see.  And the amazing folks I’m visiting all have astounding stories.

I have a harmonica and a ukulele to learn, about 15 books and all the yoga gear you could imagine.  Radical self care.

My duties have been delegated and I’m clear to go!  I’m grateful to Arlo and Lyle for having my back.  For Ally, Paul, Amanda, Marcela and Alisa for holding down the fort of Abundance.  I’m excited to see the board of Abundance steer the ship into a new sustainable direction.  Hope is taking care of the airbnb’s.  I’m truly blessed to have this privilege.  I expect to have a new clear vision when I get back mid March.

Giovanna bought me a tool that can cut the seatbelt or break windshield glass or act as a flare.  (In case the car goes over a bridge into a body of water) and Carol bought me airbuds for the phone so I can call Ally and mentor her!

Wish me luck and I’ll write of my adventures every week here.  See you in the spring!

The first time I met Barbara Lorie, I was knee deep in mud and many years of someone else’s trash; meds, mattresses, bottles and cans.  I was cleaning up around the tar paper shack that would soon become my home of 20 years.

She took one look at me and told Lyle that I was a Princess.  So, we didn’t get along very well for awhile.

Barbara was a force to be reckoned with and she met Lyle and our roommate, Jenna at a Thomas Berry workshop.  Barbara lived in Pittsboro and was thinking of starting an intentional community.  There was talk of the intentional community being right where I was cleaning up the most nasty crap from the former owners.

I don’t know when I fell in love with her, but it was a slow build.  I wasn’t used to someone who spoke her mind and was so opinionated. I do know that when she spoke, people listened.  After we came home from the hospital with Zafer, she sent the word out in the community that this young couple needed food and the food kept coming.  Some people we had never met.  We finally had to say that we were capable of cooking and the lasagnas stopped coming.

Less than two years later, when Arlo surprised us and the delivery didn’t go that well, my uterus and other organs ruptured.  I was bedridden for weeks with a catheter and a newborn.  Zafer was not happy about the situation and Lyle was juggling keeping it all together plus building us a pond because it was so damn hot in the house.

Barbara came over every day and cared for me and Arlo.  She managed the guests and turned people away so I could rest.  She would have them drop their food and gifts and tell them to leave.  I have never felt so protected, even if I did want to see those people!  Barbara took me to the hospital for follow up procedures and would yell at the doctors and the nurses about the care I was getting.  They asked if she was my mother.  I said my mother would never speak like that!  Once again, I got excellent service.

Over the years, Barbara was a grandmother to the boys and girls, she taught Jessalyn to drive stick shift, she could keep up with Kaitlin, she certainly taught all the kids the alphabet of curse words.  Barbara and Uncle Mark were incredibly close and for her 80^th birthday party Mark and I broke into her house and stole her photo albums and pictures off the walls to make a movie about her.  Doug and Yvonne kept her away for an entire day so we could scan everything.

Barbara would even go visit Lyle’s parents in Canada. The contrast was big.  But they all had a love and respect of one another.  Her intellect and political knowledge could not be beat.

One year she gave me a huge stack of papers to take to the beach.  It was her memoirs.  I thought there is no way I was going to read through them.  I couldn’t put it down.  Her memoirs were wild and a page turner.  Barbara has lived an incredible life of adventure, love and pain.

Another year, Barbara’s spirit was down.  Her body was not delivering.  She wanted to go.  One thing on her bucket list was to go to Mattamuskeet to see the migration one more time.  We made a date to go down and stay in a B&B.  Her stories can keep you spellbound for hours.  We dropped in on my friend, Alisa and met her family and husband Chris.  Alisa joined us the next day at the lake to see the birds and we learned about her hunch that her husband had ALS.  Well, Barbara said on the way home, we must get that family to Chatham County to help her and to see Chris out.  And that is what happened.  A very long story on it’s own.

When Zafer died, it was like she lost her own blood.  She is one of the few people that I could fall apart with.  I remember one day when the autopsy report was emailed to me and I had to read about the tag on Zafer’s beautiful toe.  I read about every part of his body externally and internally and I drove straight to Barbara’s and freaked the hell out on her.  She could handle it and she could listen fully.

Barbara would adamantly give advice.  After listening to my drama du jour, she would say:  Go check yourself into a mental institution right now.  And she would give me the number to call.  And she was always right.  I never did check in, but I should have.

She told me when my skirts were too short, when I hadn’t handled something well, when I was not taking care of myself, and she also gave me tons of praise.  She told me how I was changing the world with my work at Abundance.  She encouraged me and sometimes gave me that extra bit of courage to keep going.

One day Barbara called me so excited.  She had just read “Proof of Heaven; a neurosurgeon’s near death experience”.  She said I MUST read it right now.  In her 90 some years this really spoke to her and she knew that she would see Zafer soon and this was just a transition.  It made her so happy and therefore it made me so happy about her seeing Zafer on the other side.  We laughed about the two of them having lattes together as soon as she got there.  That phone call and the fact that this 90 year old believed this got me through some tough months of grieving.

As Barbara’s body started giving out, we would come up with foods that she wanted.  I wanted to be able to make her whatever she wanted.  The first exotic dish she asked for was duck.  It took me months to get a minute to bake her a duck and the night I scheduled it, Doug had to take her to the hospital.  I thought, shit…I have to get her this duck before she dies.  Well, she didn’t want just any duck, she wanted the Asian market duck where they have it precooked and cut it for you.  So, I went and got the second duck and we had a successful dinner party last fall.
I realized it wasn’t about her having the duck, she wanted me to have that crazy experience of the Asian market.

Standing rib roast was the next dish.  Tony was in town and I went and bought a 4 rib standing rib roast.  It was bigger than a fat baby.  She didn’t trust me with that, so she ended up cooking it and we had another amazing dinner party.

A few weeks ago as she weakened, I came by and she was sleeping.  She opened her eyes and told me my dress was too short.  I asked her what dish she wanted next and she said “lobster”.

It has been refreshing to talk bluntly with her about death and what she wants.  She built this community to see her out.  And we are.  Her legacy is Blue Heron and the sweet community that is giving her 24/7 care right now.  So many people are helping Doug and Yvonne:  Davo, Stacye, Elaine, Sally, Jean, Sue and the list goes on.  Barbara has vision and she created this.  She is a woman that knows what she wants.

I know that soon she’ll be somewhere really fun, being extravagant, with Zafer and Mark and all the other soul families.

And tonight let us eat duck, again.