Updated December 6, 2025.
“Truth does not abandon the hearts that fly free.”
Part two of First Daughter Still Standing.
Blog post from June 30, 2025.
I
struggled significantly in my early learning years. I learned quite
young that I needed to become a self taught individual if I was going
to survive my fears created from school situations, health complications and family issues surrounding my young life. From teaching myself
jewelry making, to designing my own clothes, to inventing creative ways to
survive and graduate from high school, to many years of struggle pushing my way to a Masters Degree in Human Development, I never gave up.
I married too young at 21, very much in love in those early days. My husband was a good man. He would later struggle with internal family dynamics too, that caused him much grief. Not understanding it all and after a lifetime of engaging in every manner of healing pathways and hard fought efforts to sustain a life for us, for myself and for our children, the unnamed, misunderstood traumas finally had to be faced. Complete separation, after several false attempts, was after our girls were on their own. After I came to terms with needing a life of my own. I take full responsibility for my mistakes and the massive fears I carried that created impulsive recklessness and harm.
Being human is hard work!
At twenty three I taught myself
Lamaze child birth practices from a library book, the practice was barely known in 1970. I was carrying my first child, Jennifer, she was born in October of 1970, and named after my childhood best friend. We lived in Mendocino, California at the time. My husband, David, was in the Coast Guard and he was stationed at the light house there. He was a good husband and father. It was heavenly and a very happy and beautiful time in our lives. By the time
my second child was born, Lamaze classes were being taught through the
Red Cross and other organizations. We went together. Our second daughter, Emily, was born. She was name after my great grandmother. Our marriage however, had began to have struggles as my husband was showing early signs of mental illness of which neither one of understood at the time. He was not able to hold down a job after his four years in the Coast Guard. He became more and more self isolated and I found that I needed to find a way to complete my education in order to support our family financially.
I discovered the teachings of Dr
Maria Montessori from a friend. I became very excited to share her
teachings with my mother. She and my sister, Diana, gave me a beautiful
book by Dr. Montessori for Christmas that same year, it was 1972, Emily was a few weeks old. I soon
found myself correspondence courses and teaching my two young daughters what I
was learning. I received my Montessori Teaching Certificate by 1976. I was hired by the Swinomish Head Start program as a preschool teacher that fall. I continued to use the Montessori Method in our home with my daughters to assure sure both of my children knew how to read and write before they were
enrolled in public school. After my mother and my grandmother, Deedee mom, Dr. Montessori was one of my first mentors.
I carried on with my education and advancing my opportunities for working with children and families. At the same time and through many complications of sustaining our marriage and our life together as a family, I choose to take care of husband, who was struggling with his mental health. Through much effort over the years I was able to finally get him medical assistance and proper disability insurance for his diagnosis of schizophrenia. Through my own mental health therapy I was able to find the wherewithal to file for a divorce and begin a life of my own. David went to live with his mother and sister. He would be safe and under proper care. Our daughters would be in their early twenties, icing their chosen lives by that time. I would go on to complete my MA degree. I have immense gratitude for our children and what they accomplished in their lives under these circumstances. I have been deeply fortunate for the support from many friends and family members and my Faith as a Baha’i. Those who helped our family at this juncture and through these difficult years. You are all in my heart and never forgotten. God’s blessings sustained us each day and continually surround us to this day.
Gratitude and Grace carry me.
In the process of my self development it was time to face my own childhood issues and why I repeatedly felt like an outcast since my early years. I was not allowed to do certain activities that other kids were doing. For example, I was not allowed to make cards with the other kids in my class for holiday gifts. I remember being very disappointed when my teacher told me my hand writing was not good enough. I had a speech therapist in the second grade. She was so frightening in her approach that on the days I was suppose to see her I would hide in my bedroom when it was time to go to school, not knowing how to tell my mom about my fears. As the oldest of five children, my parents who loved us and worked hard to provide for us, did not know how to help me either. When I was nine years old I contracted pneumonia. I was treated for months, sometimes too weak to go to the doctor, he would come to our house and give me an injection of penicillin. The pneumonia was recurring and the doctor just kept giving me antibiotic shots. Eventually my mother took me to a specialist. I was loosing ground and was very ill. The specialist took an x ray and discovered I had swallowed a small piece of plastic and it was lodged in my left lung causing it to collapse. That’s why I was so weak I remembered of course, after talking with my parents and the doctor, that I had swallowed a small game piece that I had been sucking on. I remembered the chocking, the feeling of passing out, not being able to breath at the time. I remembered my mother settling me into bed after the episode, telling me I would be okay. Neither of us connected the recurring pneumonia with that incident. The constant fears I carried from those experiences did great harm to me, as I did not have a voice to speak up in my behalf. It would take years trying to save my first husband, ignoring my own issues of hiding my fears and expressing them through impulses and misaligned blame, that continued to harm me, and remained emotionally trapped in my own body, before I would reclaim my self, my free will, and my voice.
When I was young no one really knew
about, diagnosed, or addressed ADHD or Dyslexia in young children. Learning reading and math skills was basically a disaster, as I did not learn the way other kids did. I learned to turn to those who would be my life long mentors by researching what I needed at the
library. Somehow librarians were very patient and helped me with the card catalog system. I would learn early on, even as a poor reader at the time, to choose mentors through books, that would afford me healthy
pathways to my spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical development.
One of my favorite books in high school was a gift I had received of a
hard cover dictionary. A wonderful mentor in high school for me was Jane Addams. I studied her and wrote book reports about her. I would eventually write about her in my college essays as well. She was an American settlement activist, social worker, socialist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. Jane Addams was a leader in the history of social work and women's suffarage. She became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in promoting international peace and for her leadership in the peace movement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams.
I learned about Transcendental Meditation in the early seventies as a young mother. I
took a class at the local
community center. I felt contained, but still not self realized. I went on to continue
practicing mediation on and off all of my life. Never really
understanding what it was I was doing or how it might be helping me. It
just felt right. I learned and practiced yoga from a book but didn't
take a class
until my early forties. In the early nineties I read and studied "Women
who Run With The Wolves" by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. She soon became one of my beloved mentors and still is. I used her teachings on trauma recovery and honoring women's voices through story telling as part of my own healing path, and as part of my thesis work for my MA degree.
I
received my Masters Degree in human development with specializations in
child development, parent education and community work at Pacific Oaks
College, finally completing my thesis in 2002. I began my BA work in
1995. Pacific Oaks College has a main campus in Pasadena, California and
until recently had an out reach campus in Seattle. I completed both on
line and in person courses in Seattle and Pasadena. The staff were very
respectful and inviting. I developed friendships and acquired nurturing
relationships with my professors, Dr. Barbara Daniels, and Dr. Elizabeth Jones, founder of the college. Im overwhelming grateful for their contributions to my education.
Both became my mentors for many years.
Their dedication to me as my eventual co-thesis chairs gave me the courage
to recover my voice through my own story telling process. They never let up on challenging my writing, and
while it all drove me mad and often to tears, I am forever grateful to
them! I learned of the college at an educational fair I attended while
studying at Skagit Valley College, where I received my associates degree
in early childhood education. I enrolled through applying for grants
and loans which are now all paid off.
"Grounded in its social justice heritage, Pacific Oaks College prepares
students to be culturally intelligent agents of change serving diverse
communities in the fields of human development, education, and related
family studies. Pacific Oaks is committed to providing and promoting a diverse and
inclusive environment for all students, faculty, and staff, where each
person can succeed professionally regardless of race, ethnicity,
culture, nationality, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender
identity, gender expression, age, marital status, or ability. We believe
diversity and inclusion enrich the educational experience of our
students, faculty, and staff and are necessary to prepare all people to
thrive personally and professionally in a global society."
https://www.pacificoaks.edu/
A link to the life and contributions of dear Elizabeth Jones who passed away in November of 2022 at 92 years of age. https://hub.exchangepress.com/articles-on-demand/3176/
Over the years, since the late nineties, I
have studied the works of and taken courses from Dr Caroline Myss,
author of "Anatomy of The Spirit". Her auto tapes were given to me from my massage therapist who I started seeing after a car accident I was in 1997. The other driver hit me head on going 100 miles an hour according the police report. Witnesses confirmed the incident. After several weeks of physical and emotional distress and of not having a car as mine was totaled, I decided to take the driver, who had no auto insurance to court. A letter was sent to my insurance agent from a man who happened to be in his car parked across the street from the incident, stating what he had seen. The letter would be a God send. I studied the audio tapes by Dr Myss daily for six months. They helped me transform myself after the accident. I began reading her books and eventually took a two day training course with Dr Myss, while working at Skagit Mental Health Children Services. I had been working there for about seven months before the accident. It was there I would meet my second husband as I worked as an intern to receive my Washington State Mental Health Counseling certification. Dr Myss has ever since been another respected mentor that I continue to learn from.
Pema Chodron, Tibetan
Buddhist nun and teacher, now 84 years old, has been another inspirational teacher for me over the last twenty years or so. I make sincere efforts to understand and practice her teachings on midndfulness and meditation. I have used Pema's practices of understanding our shared
humanity of harmony and chaos within ourselves in my professional work
with individuals as a licensed Mental Health Therapist and a Reiki
practitioner the whole of my professional career. I would receive my Washington state, Mental Health Counselor Certification in 2004. My internship with Skagit Mental Health Childern's Services was from 1997 through 2004. I completed my Reiki Master training of four years during that time as well.
I have listened to Pema Chodron's audio “Coming
Closer to Ourselves” many times. (please see references for her work below). I would like to share
my thoughts and recommendations for supporting chaotic energies. Perhaps you might be feeling and noticing in your body a collective
experience of discomfort and distress that is affecting all of us at
this time. I have been feeling more intense levels of both these types
of energies lately. It all leaves me feeling confused and hopeless. I
find I need lots of space between tasks for quiet and calm. I need lots
of meditative moments of quietness. I write this as of 12/05/25 at last full moon of the year.
Here’s what I’ve learned: How….I make decisions about my day’s activities are about making choices that are Less active rather than More active. I’ve found myself over
focused, with a feeling of necessity, on the tragedies and chaos of world
events and political wranglings. The more I focus on the man made mess the more massive the internal
distress wells up in me. I need lots of reminders that I actually do know what to
do in these. I’ve been practicing and teaching these self care skills now for over 25 years through my learned and lived experiences that have led me to
my Elderhood years! I do know how to protect myself, I do know what my protective factors are that guide in choosing healthy internal boundaries. I do know how to make safe decisions and create
calmness for myself.
How
and what do I choose to do about the chaos and when to pay attention to it….if at all or for any of it? What do I let
go of as a matter of sanity in my own life? I honor and recognize these on going
inner questions and conflicts as being driven by something Pema Chodron
calls, “Ubiquitous Nervousness.” A term she often refers to in her
talks, shared from her Buddhist teachers. We all carry some level of
nervousness within us. The question is what do we do with it?
I’ve
decided to share the personal practices that have been helpful to me
over the years. I hope my experiences here are helpful to those reading my work.
At
this writing I've been fully retired from professional work now for
just over two years. One healing practice for me is writing. Which I learned to do as I mentioned as a student at Pacific Oaks College. Writing is a skill I find joyful and of course sometimes frustrating when at the same time. It keeps me mentally and emotionally active by enabling me to continue
to stay connected to my years of practicing and reflecting on my own experiences and how I learned and continue to practice healthy self care. I have six grand children from the ages of 11 to 23
years old. I volunteer as a member of Friends of the Library in our
community. I have a community garden plot that I love working in. I am
enjoying new friendships through an International Grandmother's Circle
that I was invited into about three years ago now. I have a full, rich
life with my beloved husband. A beautiful and grateful life. These are the gifts in my life that bring me joy now…today. However, I
still feel overwhelmed by the world's chaotic turns and exhausting
events. I need to practice self care...daily...to not be consumed by
it!!
Pema
Chodron's gentleness is refreshing, as is her intelligence and humor,
as she guides you to understanding the purpose of practicing meditation.
She describes her own life experiences on how she learned to be gentle and kind with herself. Her teachings
as a Buddhist nun and teacher of Buddhism are about practicing
meditation by bringing or settling into and staying with yourself with the honesty of the subtleties of the inner nervousness. Developing clarity and courage as you become aware of your own
feelings and thoughts at a deeper level. She guides us to consider being
open to both the harmony and the chaos within. Learning to understand
how to accept the tension of the duality of positive and negative
emotions which are as she states, both just energy.
Nothing
to do beyond noticing and being curious about the energy in your body
and the thoughts and emotions that arise. Becoming aware of whatever
arises and letting go, as a practice of being with the energy. Staying
with it, not trying to get rid of it or change anything as a necessary
solution, which can often show up in ourselves as impulsive behaviors
made to dispel the discomfort by attempting to hide it or get rid of it.
Another teacher and practice…I trained in Aikido, a modern form of Japanese martial art, for
a short time in the late seventies. I started learning from a book of course. eventually a friend introduced me to
a dear soul who was trained in the art. He also happened to be a
Baha’i. Through correspondence he eventually came to visit me and
offered me a few instructions, giving me a practical guide book with steps to practice. He was an elder, he still worked for the post office in Seattle. He took the time to travel to visit with me and spend a couple of hours sharing his humble wisdom. I
learned several movements and techniques that taught me how to connect more fully with my body so I could bring myself into a fuller awareness of my unconscious self, reflect more deeply on making choices based on my inner feelings through subtle movement and situational awareness. Over time and in practicing still, I
learned to sit with the internal discomfort and let it pass, before ever
acting or responding to the uncomfortable situation. I learned to make
fewer, less harmful acts towards myself as well as others. I find these
practices have kept me safe in many situations in my life,
when I remember to practice them, and I always need to re-remember to practice the skills. Offering gratitude for my Asian friend and Aikido teacher.
To remember…The
word remember is a verb: "to have or be able to bring to one's mind an
awareness of (someone or something that one has seen, known, or expected
in the past)." Oxfords language Dictionary.
I
have come to appreciate Pema Chodron’s work, and the work of the great spiritual healers that I have been blessed with in my life. The gifts of wisdom I've received is now the foundation of my spiritual development and my spiritual beliefs. These experiences in my life are the pathway to my spiritual development. I have
been a seeker of religious truth since a young child. I began going to
church with neighbors, my parents did not have a church that they
attended. When I was nine years old my grandmother took me to the
United Methodist Church in Sunnyvale, California where we lived. We attended Sunday school there. I was given my first Bible of which I
still treasure. As a young g mother I began studying the Baha'i Writings in
the Spring of 1974, just after moving up Anacortes, Washington with my first husband and our young daughters. As I studied the Holy Writing’s of the Baha’i Faith, I was especially intrigued with the principles of
"progression revelation". All religions have the same spiritual teachings. Manifestations of God arrive for humanity about every thousand years or so to reawaken us to what we have forgotten about being spiritual beings. From the time of Adam to now. The manifestation for this age is Baha’u’llah, meaning The Glory of God. His message for our time is the oneness of humanity, the unity of religions. Regarding meditation, there is a Baha'i
teaching that states, "One hour of reflection is worth 70 years of pious
worship." (Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Iqan, (The Book of Certitude, p.
238). There are no directions on how one should meditate in the Baha'i
Writings, just that the practice brings you closer to understanding
yourself as a spiritual being.
I
have learned for myself that I need some guidance as it relates to
meditation and my path to my own spiritual practices and development.
In the book, “Paris Talks”, a question was posed "What is meditation in
reality and how do we meditate? ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Baha’u’llah, explains the process in
simple and clear terms: "It is an axiomatic fact that while you meditate
you are speaking with your spirit. In that state of mind you put
certain questions to your spirit and the spirit answers: the light
breaks forth and the reality is revealed. You cannot apply the name
‘man’ to any being void of this faculty of meditation; without it he
would be a mere animal, lower than the beasts." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris
talks, pg 174-175.
https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/paris-talks/
In
learning meditation as it relates to one’s self emotionally and
spiritually, Pema states, “Emotions are the combination of energy and
thought. You let the thoughts go and what’s left is energy. This is the
practice, not the solution, but the practice of meditation”. In my opinion her
teachings on the practice of meditation and her guidance in general can
be considered a self care choice leading to a deeper calm. Something
that I surely need and as I practice have found to be very helpful in discovering joy and a deeper meaning to my decision making and life's choices.
One
more way to define this principle and practice of choosing a meditation
practice as an act of self care is to consider it as choosing to take a
“Five Step Self Time Out” for yourself. This is a term my husband of 26 years, and a marriage and family counselor, coined as he was working with families. He developed the "The Self Time Out
Tools" and invited me to collaborate with him in his work. The tools are very clear and simple in understanding "feeling language". Often our innermost feelings are difficult to discover within ourselves
when we are overwhelmed with anxiety, frustration, anger and fear created from trauma and stress.
As
a retired mental health counselor, I’ve studied and written about these
insight tools extensively now along side my husband, Chuck Britt. Along with my Life skills and lived experiences, in the
work, it didn't take long to learn Chuck and I had much in common. When he asked me to marry him one night over dinner, in the winter of 1998, yes came easy and was a joyful decision. We married one month later. The day after our wedding, which took place on January 2, 1999 at Deception Pass State Park, we spoke at the Methodist Church in Mount Vernon, where we had been invited to speak about the “Self Time Out Parenting Tools”. I have come to believe in the
practical application of the Self time Out Tools first hand through using the tools over many years with the clients I have worked with and in continued collaboration with my husband. I have
witnessed hundreds of individuals and families go through
transformational healing using the tools. We continue to offer free and
printable materials on our website. https://www.selftimeout.org
As
I become aware of the struggle and discomfort in my body, I can choose
to reflect and ask myself, what do I feel, what do I need? I can ask,
are my choices in this moment life giving, joyful and confirming, or are
they life threatening and full of fear, anger and confusion? Very
subtle meditative questions that can be a beginning to sitting down and
moving closer to yourself. Meditation can become more about learning to not struggle with the uncomfortable
feelings of push and pull, for and against, natural dualistic thinking,
as Pema Chodron describes it. It can be about actually discovering a curiosity
about oneself. Do my choices bring comfort or escalation within myself
and my relationships with others? Do my choices give me less turmoil and
fear or a more relaxed sense of calm as I make decisions and go about
my day?
The
practice of noticing my feelings and needs can be a gentle shift of
awareness. As uncomfortable as it might feel, remember it’s only energy
flowing within the body. I can stop at any given moment and notice the discomfort the energy flowing within my body. As I do so, I will have more information to choose
from about my feelings and my needs. I can choose to make a plan to take care of
myself, to be with myself, gently, listening to my feelings and needs.
This shift helps me to feel less anxious as I become more focused and self aware of my feeling. This is the foundation of a "Five Step Self Time
Out".
Meditation
and self reflection can serve as a way of noticing what I am feeling
and needing as a pathway to reducing chaos and increasing joy in my
life. These practices have become a part of my daily self care for quite
some time now. They serve my spiritual, mental, emotional and physical needs in predictable patterns that have served to create safety in my life and guide my choices over time.
Perhaps, as science is teaching us, these practices affect me in the same way learning to ride a bike did
when I was a kid. Neurological pathways of development, connecting and
reconnecting throughout the body, at every step. Practicing what I've
learned from my mentors over the years and being supported by the
practical use of insightful self care tools, has created patterns
within my being that keeps me balanced and support who I am as a healthy whole human being. When I take the time to notice my feelings and needs and practice the skills I’ve learned, I notice I feel more confident in myself and my choices about what I now need to be learning now…in my Elderhood years.
I
know what it feels like to fall off the path. I know what it feels like
to get back on the path. I can choose to continue to practice what
works for me in my Elderhood years. How do I address my fears and
confusions about what it feels like to be getting "older"? Sharing my
writings, my stories, and my self care practices with you here, helps me
stay connected with myself and with my life as I walk this path and
learn to balance the chaos about what Elderhood means for me.
I am always reading more than one book at a time. I’ve read two books reently by, Anne Lamott, after my friend sent me one of her articles. She is funny, painfully honest and grounded, trying to stay sane, healing writer! The
most recent book I am reading now is titled, "Elderhood"
Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life. By Louise
Aronson MD. 2021. She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, a
geriatrician, educator and professor of medicine at the University of
California. It is a 450 page textbook. Not sure about how its assisting me other than informing me of how our medical system has failed to support elders as they age. I don’t think I’ll make it through the book. I’m reading it in sections from the index based on my interest and mood. I do need wisdom about my aging process. I have fear about aging, as my body changes and I’m unable to do what I used to even five years ago.
Final notes.
My mother and father are my wisdom keepers and first mentors on the subject of Elderhood! God bless them for allowing me to be their medical advocate in their final years, walking with them through their health care needs, and becoming a full part of their elder years experiences.
I am realizing that my reflective writing here on “Chaos and The Elder Years” has been a story unfolding throughout my narrative writing blog page of fifteen years now. Writing has been a way for me to document my life’s lessons and experiences. I write my stories because it is healing for me. A web of stories about my life wrapped around me like a beautiful dancing shawl.
Here are some resources from my mentors that you may find helpful:
Pema Chödrön (Standard Tibetan: པདྨ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན།, romanized: padma chos sgron, lit. 'lotus dharma lamp'; born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936) is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.Chödrön has written several dozen books and audiobooks, and was principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia until recently. She retired in 2020.
Pema Chodron https://www.soundstrue.com/products/coming-closer-to-ourselves (from Sounds True publications, soundstrue.com)
Pema
Chodron A talk from Sounds True: “Unconditional Confidence,
Instructions for Meeting any Experience with Trust and Courage.”
Pema Chodron “The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness. A Guide to fearlessness in Difficult times.”
I
suggest reading any of Pema Cohodron's articles in the magazine, Lions
Roar. The most interesting current article of Pema’s is:https://www.lionsroar.com/from-suffering-to-awakening-3-ways-to-transform-your-emotions/ you may need to create a free account.
Finally
often in Pema Chodron’s talks she will refer you to her recommendations
for readings that led her to becoming a Buddhist nun and one of the
main writings and authors she refers to is on the subject of “negative
negativity”.
One such writing link is at: https://www.thezengateway.com/culture/choegyam-trungpa-working-with-negativity
Clarissa Pinkola Estés (née Reyes; born January 27, 1945) is a Mexican-American writer and Jungian psychoanalyst. She is the author of Women Who Run with the Wolves (1992), which remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 145 weeks and has sold over two million copies.
Caroline Myss (pronounced mace; born December 2, 1952) is
an American author of 10 books and many audio recordings about mysticism
and wellness. She is most well known for publishing Anatomy of the Spirit (1996). She also co-published The Creation of Health with Dr C Norman Shealy, MD, former Harvard professor of neurology. Myss describes herself as a medical intuitive and a mystic.
Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori ( MON-tiss-OR-ee; Italian: [maˈriːa montesˈsɔːri]; 31 August 1870 – 6 May 1952) was an Italian physician and educator best known for her philosophy of education (the Montessori method) and her writing on scientific pedagogy.
At an early age, Montessori enrolled in classes at an all-boys
technical school, with hopes of becoming an engineer. She soon had a
change of heart and began medical school at the Sapienza University of Rome,
becoming one of the first women to attend medical school in Italy; she
graduated with honors in 1896. Her educational method is in use globally
in many public and private schools.
The Kitab-I-Iqan: The Book of Certitude. "A treatise revealed by
Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad in 1861/62 in response to questions posed by one
of the maternal uncles of the Báb, translated by Shoghi Effendi and
first published in English in 1931." https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/kitab-i-iqan/
The official website of the worldwide Baha'i community: https://www.bahai.org/
"Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city,
and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave,
and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention of God hath been made,
and His praise glorified." Bah'u'llah. https://www.bahaiprayers.org
Top photo taken of me age 77, at Grandveiw Cemetery Anacortes, WA, October 30, 2025 by my husband.
Bottom photo taken of me at about age 30, by my friend Marcy North, in the Summer of 1978. Gentlemen in the background are Bill Mitchell of Anacortes, and his friend, of whom I do not have a name.
Drawing created December 3, 2025. Titled Shawl Dance: Merging out of Chaos.
.jpg)
