I had a creative writing professor in college who had one rule for our class assignments. I have tried to abide by it but honestly, it is a tough one. He stood at the head of the classroom, gazing out at our young faces and said, “Absolutely never, ever start any story with ‘I was born’”. So many times, that’s exactly my first line. I have to cross it out and start over. I Am Here Instead of being born once, I think, based on the fact that I’m getting older, that we are born every time we choose something new to learn. That’s what it’s like to be a…

Maybe it’s my age. I remember the thump in my heart the day I learned my daughter eloped. She was the happiest I’ve ever known her to be. She and her new husband drove up our long driveway in his truck for a surprise visit. I was out by the barn and glancing up at them saw my daughter yelling something. She was so excited. It’s a blur after that. They had eloped. It happened a few days before under a veil of secrecy. Even from me. First thump felt. They told their story. The why and where. How. When we got the pictures that were taken later of them…

Looking back, I understand that I was given several warnings that my life was going to change in every way. In a series of dreams that lasted over a one year, I remembered being a young Native American woman mated to a warrior for the tribe. I had flashbacks of being in the mountains in the southern USA, standing on a cliff overlooking more woods and hills, saying farewell to him. In other dreams I heard a voice telling me that my name is Timid Thunder. Sometimes I remembered climbing up the side of a steep hill grabbing rocks with my bare hands, trying to escape from something. Whoever she…