Beginnings

As a kid I can tell you I was sensitive yet feisty, not to mention pretty darn sure I was almost always right.  I can remember desperately wanting to create but also not having the patience to slow down and give whatever the whim of the moment was, the time that it took. I wanted to write, learn to play the guitar… dance…play the piano be a gymnast…train horses or be a veterinarian …. and then I think it was an artists or photographer!

One thing that stayed steady  was a heart that felt the vibrations of the world. My sisters would tease me about picking the lopsided bumpy “ugly” pumpkin at the very bottom of the pile when we visited the pumpkin patch. Watching any animal suffer was unbearable and witnessing a child at the hands of an individual  swirling in their own pain brought me to my knees with sadness. It was the voiceless that touched my heart in the deepest of corners. I guess it’s our cumulative experiences that continue to gather throughout our lives that create the opportunities and then choices we make.

The first time I took my husband out to what is now Soulful Prairies he honestly  thought I was crazy. It was a large piece of land with  a bunch of falling down buildings that were of no use. He did not get it and I had no idea what my draw to the land was. It just was. Yet somewhere deep in his heart he knew that the desperately independent little girl inside of me needed to be trusted. Trusted to create. So he yanked off my bridle, smacked me on the ass and said, run free wild child, find your way and I will be here to catch you, if need be. It is the single most precious gift I have ever received.

I have cried, I have doubted myself and my decisions, I have danced and celebrated and then cried some more. People would say, “What are your plans? What are you doing out in Woodstock?” And I would pause and say, ” I don’t know.” In the beginning that was hard for me but now I see the perfection in the unfolding and that any attempt to force it in a direction would be missing the whole point. As Soulful Prairies takes shape I am pulled  harder and stronger. I now trust the days filled with tears and uncertainty and the days filled with exhilaration and passion. They both bring growth and insight.