Into the woods I go, to lose my mind, and find my soul. -John Muir

I made it. I came home. The Unfolding of 2021 deposited me back into the woods where my soul longed to be since I left a month before my 8th birthday. It only took 4+ decades to complete the journey, but I’m HOME.

Our mom used to recite a little verse, which is exactly how I feel moving back to the Pacific Northwest, with all of its mossy goodness.

“Out of the dreariness
Into its cheeriness
Come we in weariness,
Home.”
― Stephen Chalmers

It took me a little bit of time to realize that the Unfolding I had been feeling for a little more than a year had changed. I had so successfully steeped myself in all things ‘woods and forest’ in order to soothe my soul, that a beautiful opportunity emerged via my brother and his family. My husband, our youngest daughter, and I sold our home and moved to the Kitsap County/Puget Sound area of Washington state.

Now I truly live IN the woods!

On the third day after our arrival, I was awake early in the morning, watching the sunlight begin to filter through the trees outside our bedroom window. I felt an enormous weight swell up in my chest and then pop right off. It was so visceral, I jumped! And then I breathed, Great, deep, lung-expanding breaths as if I had not been breathing in a very long time.

My mind traveled back to the moment I understood my parents were divorcing; my family was suddenly broken, and I had lost my home. Trapped in the high desert of Northern Utah, a great weight of loss and grief had rolled on to me, crushing my little girl's heart and bruising my soul. It happened on the third day after our arrival to visit my Mom’s parents, with the appearance of divorce papers from my Dad.

Coming full circle, I was Home; it was the third day, my family was intact, and I was free.

❦

Many of us have undergone significant shifts in career, health, housing, relationships, education, and more during the Unfolding of 2021. Those shifts are carrying us to greater heights than we could have imagined as we move into what I call the 2022 Launch. Of course, this stuff doesn’t run on a Jan-Dec calendar and there is a good amount of overlap, but I can already feel the next phase of Flourish seeping in.

The transition from Unfolding to Launch to Flourish is bringing an updated color scheme to the website and a new logo.

flour·ish (of a person, animal, or other living organism) grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment.

This is exciting! I love the creation of new things and the ever-expanding adventures of my own Joy. I enjoy offering “tech support for the soul” through Zoom, and I am looking forward to Launching a new office space to provide in-person sessions again. Happily, as the pandemic winds down a bit more, that becomes a greater likelihood with every passing week. Large Cheer!