Kerry is the Loom on Which I Weave My Path

 

        Kerry is my neighbor, my friend, and one of the most knowledge-filled human beings I have ever known. Her knowledge is of the things that are important in life—her knowledge is of the earth and all that it gives and needs. Her knowledge is that which everyone should know in order to live a life that is productive, healthy, safe, and mutually beneficial to our environment. The universe brought Kerry and me together a few years ago, and I have said thanks for it every day since. I give even more thanks that she has been so gracious as to take me under her huge wingspan of knowledge. I learn something from her every single time we are together, but we’ve officially decided that we will set aside one day a week for her to impart her wisdom to me: this is my Tuesdays with Kerry where I am slowly weaving my journey to fulfillment. I have always been a happy, optimistic person, but true fulfillment in life has eluded me. Until now. Please join me on my journey, and maybe you will find something of interest to you that could bring you your own fulfillment in this life.

            Let me start at the beginning—well the beginning of this chapter in my life…

At 48 years of age, an ugly divorce and a severe concussion (literally) brought me to the sprawling, cool mountains of North Carolina. These two slaps-in-the-face were just what I needed to begin my journey to me.  I had been living for too many years in the oppressive angry heat of West-Central Florida, going to a job each day that was like a cancer eating away at my soul.

Who was I, really? I spent so much of my life being whoever I was supposed to be for whoever I was with that I had forgotten who I really was. With three of my four children now grown, I conferred with Anna, my youngest child and currently the single focus of my life, as to where we should begin the next chapter of our story. We both agreed that the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina had always felt like home to both of us. I gave notice at work, called a charity to haul away almost all that I owned, then packed up only the necessities remaining and headed north.

Sampson Mountain, one of the many children of the ancient Blue Ridge Mountains, is where I found my new home seven miles down a gravel road. I could feel calm contentment take over my soul as soon as I settled into my tiny new home, surrounded only by trees and the life that lived in and around them. Anna and I began doing yoga every morning outside as we listened to the breeze and birds in the trees. I journaled every day, sometimes several times a day. We changed our diet, our cleaning products, and our entire way of life. We now drank the water that flowed out of our home—there is no water treatment plant on the side of a mountain so whatever you put into the earth comes directly back to you. It was a lesson that we needed to learn, and we learned it quickly and thoroughly. It’s a lesson that I wish everyone would learn.

It’s amazing how one lesson leads right into another. We’d always been earth-conscious but we catapulted to a whole new level. Everything we used, created, ate, and wore became more and more natural. When I say natural, I mean as chemical and process free as possible. No more nylon or acrylic clothing, no foods with high fructose corn syrup in the ingredient list, only natural stones and metals in our jewelry, and even a switch to homemade soaps—laundry, hand, and dish. I was feeling pretty savvy in the ways of environmental friendliness. Until I met Kerry. Kerry grows the fiber in which she makes her own clothing. Talk about a whole new level. I had so much to learn. Join me on my journey as I continue to learn, and hopefully teach you a bit as I do so.