2024 Letter

This December, I am looking out at heavy snowfall while I listen to gentle Christmas music. I am sipping spiced eggnog coffee by Second Cup and feeling lots of joy. Sometimes the outer trappings of the world can make a big difference in how we feel, and right now, I am grateful to be feeling Christmassy.

I have another reason to be full of joy. The Church of the Good Shepherd, Swedenborgian, in Kitchener, Ontario has just installed me as their permanent pastor! It is a beautiful old church with a faithful core of members and non-members alike. The congregation is welcoming and affirming, and we fit each other well. Finally, after nine years of spotty employment, sometimes in the most basic jobs, I am employed again using my years of training and my skills. I am dusting off the advent wreath, pulling out my special nativity set and scarves in the four colours of Advent, and am back in my element creating worship for all the senses.

This will be my first Christmas apart from Sam who has chosen to go celebrate with his family in Tennessee. I got to see him for just over a week in November. As he is moving in with me by the fifteenth of January, I can wait that much longer to see him again. Pray for our ability to get him landed immigrant status in a short amount of time. Once he has that he can get medical care and find work.

Many pastors, along with many spiritual seekers, go through at least one (and sometimes several) crisis (crises) of faith. These crises can look like a scary thing to them and those around them. But the truth is that our faith is meant to mature and evolve, and sometimes this comes in the form of a crisis of faith. And if we don’t have a safe place to explore and express what is troubling us, it can be a very lonely thing to experience. And if those around us are frightened by our doubt, thinking we are “falling backward” they can go into high gear to try to talk us back into the skin we are shedding.

But growth often requires that we leave behind something that no longer fits us so as to take on new and better suited ideas, beliefs, and perspectives. We serve each other better if we hold a space for others to grow rather than to try to stuff others into a box that makes us comfortable. I have seen many friends go from true believers to agnostics to atheists, some to return to a community of faith again with a new understanding, some to stay atheist. Some of my atheist friends live lives that show a belief in being good and kind. Some of my “faith following” friends somehow still say racist things or hold exclusive beliefs. I feel more affinity with those who behave thoughtfully and kindly even if they are “atheist” than those who hold a church membership somewhere but speak cruel words and behave in cold, exclusive ways.

Swedenborg was all about the insides and underneath of things, not the outsides. The real or true aspect of a thing can be found in the underpinnings, not the surface. You can say you believe in Jesus, but scorn and hold contempt for the marginalized. The underlying sentiment is superiority, not love. You can say you are an atheist but work selflessly with your neighbours to find long-lasting solutions for those who struggle. The underlying sentiment is compassion and a sense of responsibility for those who struggle. Which is more Christ-like?

And so I am declaring that a crisis of faith is like the coming of the Lord Jesus as an infant on earth. Both are the beginning of a transformation. Both seem risky and vulnerable, and can even be threatened by those around who see only a threat. Christ’s birth was a lonely act for all involved. For Mary. For Joseph. For John the Baptist. For Jesus.

But a crisis of faith is looking toward a rebirth of a roomier understanding. Each crisis is so that we can develop a better-formed, more intelligent, and more compassionate way of being. Though fear, childhood wounds, and a restrictive environment can stunt our growth, we are designed to grow in wisdom and love. Sometimes that is lonely and scary. But it is never outside of providence. “Fear Not” say the angels. This is good tidings, and you are not alone.

Those are my reflections this year. As I begin to develop a class called “Explorations” for spiritual seekers (on Zoom this coming January, date/time TBD) I am reflecting on the topic of faith development and how it can be messy and gooey, like birth. It can look dramatic and even dangerous, but it is how we enter new stages of spiritual evolution. And it is beautiful. Come explore with us.

May you find a warm and safe manger in which to lay your newly birthed spiritual awakenings. May you be filled with innocence and joy and peace this holiday season, and watch for those deeply good “underpinnings” all around you. A New Light comes. We don’t have to be afraid.

My family continues to do pretty well. My oldest daughter, Jennie, and her dear husband, Ryan, are doing as well as they can given Ryan’s recovery-resistant long-Covid. We pray every day for returning strength and resilience for him. Make it so! My daughter, Eden, and her husband continue to grow their practices as Osteopathic Manual Practitioners while they raise two active and vibrantly alive young girls.

Jordan, having been laid off from work in the Spring is increasingly stressed by his inability to find another job. I know many like him, also laid off in the economic downturn. I know all too well the terrible stress of chronic unemployment. Please pray for him to find a job that suits him and in which he will thrive, soon!

So from our house(s) to yours, we send deep love and hope for good fortune no matter what is going on in the world. The human race is careening around and things feel very unstable now. But this, too, shall pass. Feel ALL the feelings. Rage against whatever feels worthy if you need to. And remember that even this shall pass.

You are LOVED.

From AliSam, soon to be reunited!

Spiritual Exoskeletons and Endoskeletons - Which One Describes You?

This is part of my "grand unified theory" (ala Malcolm Gladwell) about the development of human spirituality. It is based on the work of Jonathan Heidt, James Fowler, Emanuel Swedenborg, Jean Piaget, and many other thinkers in the world of spirituality. (Yes. I believe that our morality is one face of our spiritual development.) This includes Object Relations theory as well.

James Fowler, author of The Stages of Faith (summarized here, though I believe people stay in the earlier stages of faith far longer than this optimistic projection) has built a model of spiritual development that echoes Jean Piaget's stages of psychological development. A developmental model of spirituality makes immediate sense to me, as we already speak of spiritual "growth." We develop physically, emotionally, psychologically, morally, and in all other ways. Spirituality is developmental too; how could it not be?

The main focus of my interest today is the shift between stage three (Synthetic-Conventional) (exoskeleton) and stage four (Individuative-Reflective) (endoskeleton) according to James Fowler. I know for myself that this shift reached a crisis point in my early forties. It dovetailed with a probable mid-life crisis. My trust in and reliance on my childhood faith had taken too many blows. I was being existentially ejected from (birthed from?) identification with that religious denomination. The process took years and was deeply painful. Another soul who was undergoing a similar birthing likened it to the process of becoming a butterfly after one has been a caterpillar.

"This is where things get crazy and kind of disgusting. The caterpillar does not simply rearrange itself into a butterfly or moth. It takes much more than that. The caterpillar starts to digest itself! That’s right, it releases enzymes that start to liquify almost the entire caterpillar. If you were to cut open a cocoon during this stage, a liquid caterpillar smoothie would ooze out." Mike Szydlowski, The Columbia Tribune, Oct. 2021

Goo

We found this analogy apt. It was NOT comfortable. Emanual Swedenborg would say that this shift is from "historical faith" to "living faith."

"There must be, for Stage 4, a relocation of authority to within the self. While others and their judgments will remain important to the Individuative-Reflective person, their expectations, advice and counsel will be submitted to an internal panel of experts who reserve the right to choose and who are prepared to take responsibility for their choices."  James Fowler, Stages of Faith

A Barrier Between Stages Three and Four

The shift from three to four can be very painful, especially if one has been in a denomination that requires its members to stay in stage three. Stage three relies on an outside authority. It relies on obedience and compliance within its membership. This outside authority serves as a spiritual exoskeleton to the membership. All of us require this stage as part of our development. It enables us to grow our spiritual core (endoskeleton), the place from which we can discern, sift, and organize our own authentic spirituality.

All denominations that need stage three adherents see this shift as a threat. Members who question the legitimacy of the teachings and rules threaten the leaders' authority. Eventually, these members vote themselves out of involvement as they realize their inability to change the denomination. Depending on the level of cult dynamics in the denomination, this ejection from the group can be hugely isolating, disillusioning, and painful. One can lose a sense of belonging in an otherwise cohesive and interconnected "family." The leaders generally invalidate the pain of such members and see their departure as "trimming dead wood." (I have heard this spoken explicitly.)

Exoskeleton

In truth, those who manage to launch from such a denomination are the living wood, and can eventually find root within a group that welcomes stage four spirituality. (I have found a home in a Unitarian Universalist congregation.) But many stay alone and isolated, unwilling to trust again or otherwise unable to find a new spiritual home. They are suffering from spiritual trauma and abandonment.

Endoskeleton

This shift from an authority-based faith to a living, inwardly reflective faith is part of our healthy spiritual growth. Our spirits call us to grow to this level and beyond. Unfortunately, many religious denominations see this shift as heresy, disobedience, rebellion, and "falling" from grace. These groups tend to punish, shun, vilify, and cast out such members. No wonder it can be hard to leave!

As those of us who have left such groups tend to remain isolated, we can be unaware of the huge and growing body of people on a similar path. If only we had a way to form our own, mutually supportive spiritual communities. Yet we tend to be gun-shy of belonging again.

I believe that authentic, unhampered spiritual growth requires that we make this shift. We are designed to think for ourselves based on years of spiritual work and learning from others.  We are built to continue growing spiritually, constantly deepening and adding greater nuance to our understanding. But we also need a spiritual community. Such supportive and non-dictatorial communities exist out there. They are just hard to find. They tend to mind their own business.

Do you rely heavily on outside authorities and some declared text as literally the Word of God? Then you are probably in an exoskeleton stage of spirituality. There is nothing wrong with this stage, but we are meant to evolve beyond it.

Do you think for yourself, incorporating years of experience, thought, and observation into how you understand the human condition and our responsibilities to each other? Then you are probably in an endoskeleton stage of spirituality.

Do you do some of both? Do you feel wobbly and insecure about what to think and whom to trust? Then you are probably in transition.

All of these stages are normal. This model is not to be used to judge others but to assess oneself and understand others.

Christmas 2023

Letter 2023

        Hello friends and loved ones, from snowy Kitchener, Ontario, CANADA. The flurries are flying and the headlights twinkle down on Queen Street as people commute home. It finally “feels” like Christmas, which helps a lot in getting motivated to write.

        This has been another tough year with challenges and shifting plans. We have both struggled with rocky employment situations, and I have also had several health challenges. I had fatigue and lethargy all summer, but managed to get my Organizing business moving anyway. I had a new logo designed and am advertising in local magazines. (I also had several weddings.) But by October, my energy was quite low.

        

        Sam and I enjoyed a visit with Marcia and Barb over our wedding anniversary. I supply-preached at Marcia’s UU church and did some organizing. But my fatigue kept me in bed a lot of the time. Once I was back in Canada my second baby tooth became very painful. By the time they had it extracted the dentist agreed that the extensive infection he found under it might have been what was running me down all summer. Now would I get my energy back?

    Sam and I took a long-awaited trip down to the Bryn Athyn area of Pennsylvania to visit our dear friend, Beryl Simonetti. Paul went on ahead to the spiritual world before we were able to see him too but Beryl was there, as wonderful as ever. We also visited my ninety-five-year-old Aunt Audrey Smith—the last remaining sibling from my mom’s family; as well as seeing Sam’s Aunt Molly McDonough, also ninety five! We had many lovely visits with old friends and family. It felt a little bitter-sweet. But we both have so many relatives and heart-connections there it is usually worth the visit.

     Then I got my first ever case of Covid. I fell ill about three days after arriving home, though I masked on the plane. Jordan caught it for the first time at the very same time, and we were two sick puppies together for the duration. At least we didn’t have to isolate from each other.

    It was a full two weeks before either of us felt “better.”  We are both still coughing a lot. Jordan has pretty intense fatigue ongoing and I have gastrointestinal nonsense going on, both seeming to be holdovers from the plague. But we are officially over it.

    I am again crawling back into the organizing saddle, taking on an assistant and starting to have a steady stream of clients. Fingers crossed!

          On the bright side, in May Sam and I enjoyed a cruise up the Saint Lawrence River! We started in Montreal; visited Quebec City and PEI; Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia; (I loved Sydney!) and Bar Harbor, Maine. We ended up in Boston, visiting with Sarah, Sam’s sister who lives there. It was gem of a trip. Such great memories!

    I continue to plug away at my second novel. It may not win a Pulitzer, but my fans seem very happy, and I still LOVE spending time with these characters. I just published chapter Thirty-Four!  Seeing as I made the commitment to publish a new chapter every two weeks a year ago, I am thrilled to realize how well it has worked. I would not have gotten this done without the encouragement of my readers. Woo-hoo!! This is the cover art by artist Drayton Mapp. Subscribe to read along at The Cliffside Chapel Series

    In late spring I started the “Soul Sisters’ Support Group” with Cindy Schnarr. There are currently seven of us, and we try to meet once a month. It is amazing how hard it is to find a time when all seven of us are available. But I need a place where I can be fully authentic and honest with others of a similar mind. It fills an empty place in my soul. I love hearing each woman’s struggles and joys, and we end up doing a lot of laughing. (It is amazing how easy it is to love someone when they are fully authentic!) To these local soul sisters, I love you!

    I have a habit of starting groups like this wherever I go. Many have been under the auspices of a church, but not all. I highly recommend building such a community if you want one and don’t have one.  I would be happy to mentor you in building a safe space that you love.

Blessed are you

who bear the light

in unbearable times,

who testify

to its endurance

amid the unendurable,

who bear witness

to its persistence

when everything seems

in shadow

and grief. Blessed are you

in whom the light lives,

in whom the brightness blazes—

your heart a chapel,

an altar where

in the deepest night can be seen

the fire that shines forth in you

in unaccountable faith,

in stubborn hope,

in love that illumines

every broken thing it finds.

© Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.

From Sam in New York (for now) and I in Kitchener, Ontario, our love and warm greetings go out to you. Pray for the birth of the light. Pray for the resurrection over and over again. The Divine is always waiting to come again and again and again—open, loving, wise, and mind-blowingly kind.

        AliSam

(PS. Sam will be celebrating Christmas with me in Kitchener for the first time since our marriage! Yay!!)

Christmas 2022

Greetings from Canada, home of my (Alison’s) children, my grandchildren, and many years of friends. And greetings from New York City, Sam’s home of over 33 years. We are a two-country couple and making it work. 

Thank you for all the kind and heartfelt notes that came in after last year’s letter. I can say that I am much, much better now, and happier than I have been in several years. My Canadian doctor finally found a medication that corrects my brain chemistry back to nearly normal. This has remained true for a month now, so my hopes are high that I may soon be able to settle into a stable, financially viable life. 

I continue to rely heavily on a stubborn trust in Divine Providence no matter how things look or feel. “Show up; pay attention; do your best; let go of the outcomes.” I have needed this trust or faith as my ability to find work and/or return to school has been weirdly blocked since my return to Canada. Even my therapist and kind friends shake their heads in astonishment at all the things that should be working and are not. After my failing repeatedly to get help with employment, my friend, Dori Ferr, tucked me under her arm like a football linebacker and blasted through some blocks to get me the help I needed. Where I had been trying for ten months, she got me help in two days. The woman she found figured out why the ball had been dropped so badly in my case. It was indeed a series of unpredictable events and miscommunications and rotten timing that had prevented me from getting help since November. “Nobody’s fault. Weirdly unfortunate events and loss of staff,” etc. It has been deeply frustrating, but not due to something I was doing wrong. Phew! Nevertheless, it is now November, and I am still unemployed. I have a good career coach and we are making progress, but I am sixty-one, and a female with a very odd resume. It’s going to take time. I’m settling in for the long haul of knocking on doors and getting no answer. I just need one yes. I just have to keep doing this and upping my game until I get one YES. It will happen. (Even if it is for under $40,000 a year. Sigh.)

I have had the same experience with pursuing schooling. Since November 2021 I have been paying fees and filling out forms online. I heard nothing back about my application until mid-January indicating I needed to apply again. I applied again, filling out forms, paying fees, and reaching out by email and phone. I seemed unable to talk to a real person, to find out what was going on. Sometimes I reached a living person for a minute or two in which they pointed me at (inaccurate) web pages. I entered unhelpful internet loops and found dead ends. “Go to www.____ for the answers you seek.” Www.____ says, “Call this number for the answers.” I call and the line has been disconnected. I go back to Www.____ and see an email. I email that person. No response. I find out many weeks later that that person had abruptly left her job and all the emails were falling into a pit of nothingness. By the time someone living contacted me by email in MARCH, I learn then that I had eight hours left to complete my submission. I kid you not. I go to “finish” my submission and ALL the forms I have already filled out twice online are presented to me to fill out AGAIN as if I never had. It had taken all my emotional energy to get this far, doing everything I was told, paying double in fees, being proactive, and seeking answers, until this. I collapsed in a heap of rage and tears. I couldn’t do it. I did not have the emotional energy or the will to do it all again, as if they didn’t know me—as if I hadn’t jumped through these hoops many times before. I did not even have copies of the original online forms to paste into the “new” forms. I guess they didn’t want my money that badly. I tried other angles of approach to getting this done and learned: 1) I have to pay a bunch of money to a psychotherapy website to (maybe) find out what courses I still need, having already paid a sizable fee to take some “required training” on the understanding that I would get that assessment at the end of the training, OR 2) Most of my credits are too old to count so I might as well start all over, AND 3) no one will actually help me find out what courses are still good and what will be required, so I can decide for myself. I need to march into a building and find a live person who will do this with me. So far it has been dead ends. 

Maybe with the new meds working I will be up to banging my head on that door again. But at sixty-one, I’m no longer sure I want to go through all that effort and schooling again just to have to deal with insurance companies refusing to pay me on the other side. I have heard some horror stories of how hard it can be to make a living as a therapist. So for now, I’m throwing my energy back into organizing. I have a potential new partner coming alongside which should help a lot. Fingers crossed that SOMETHING works to provide me with an income soon. 

Meanwhile, I am working on my second novel in earnest, releasing new chapters of book two biweekly to my cheerleaders and financial supporters. The writing is SO MUCH FUN. Several friends advised me to start a Patreon, despite my doubts, so I finally started one. Patreon gives me about 80% of any money pledged. It’s a dribble of money so far, but the moral support that it provides me is surprisingly potent. My publication goal for book 2 is autumn 2023. I have hired a cover artist, which makes the commitment even more real. Then I start book three. If you want to support my effort in finishing the series and to read finished chapters as they are written, go to my Patreon and see if you can throw something my way. There are some pretty sweet rewards for donors. https://patreon.com/user?u=65399202 Check it out. Love to you whether you can afford to support me or not. *

So it seems I have been granted a resurrection. I feel up to life again, up to trying, up to engaging. Thank you for loving me through this most recent valley. Fingers crossed, or constant prayers, or “Expecto Patronum!” that this wave of functionality continues and grows. Please? 

I’m sure you want to know how Sam is doing. He is soldiering on down in New York City at the job he has had for over twenty-six years. We talk every day via Facetime. He seems content in his job and has friends

with whom he gets out for movies and adventures. He also has dear friends in the building who have been inviting him to join them for meals and gatherings. We will be spending an entire month together, from Dec 6-Jan 3rd, and it will be SO good to be together again. We have been counting the days. As of today, 20 until we meet again! 

I say, “Take your hope and joy within you; keep it burning brightly in your deepest heart. Let no outside news of Herod diminish it in any way. That brilliance was made to pierce the darkest night and lead everyone to safety. With Divine Love, all things are possible.” 

Sam says, “Merry human holidays, you humans.” 

With warm greetings from us both, 

Alison (she, her), 

and Sam (it, that) 

aka ALISAM

Christmas 2021

Dear traveling companions near and far,                                                Dec 29, 2021

Wow. Has it been a year since I wrote anything on my blog?

Well, I guess that makes sense, considering everything.

I’m going to speak from my heart. Brace yourself; here comes some drastic vulnerability.

 

Last year was really, REALLY hard for me. Starting in November 2020, I sank into depression and it only deepened into the new year. My doctor tried changing my depression medications, but the new ones caused new problems. I started having tremors in my hands; I lost my coordination and balance; I just wanted to lie in my bed and sleep. It became increasingly hard to focus on my online job, (which paid very little for the time I was putting in). I needed organizing jobs! But the pandemic roared on.

 

Then in April, I broke my foot. (Thank you, negligent management company.) All my efforts to provide for myself became moot. I descended into a deeper despair than I admitted to myself.

Through denial and self-will, I persevered. By June, my foot still wasn’t healing properly. I had gained 15 pounds. The handful of “imminent” organizing jobs in NYC had never materialized. I hadn’t contributed to our rent since December. I was in debt AGAIN. I felt helpless and stuck, with my health deteriorating weekly (no balance, coordination, or endurance). I was utterly powerless to effect good on my own behalf and saw no reason this would change. I was so frustrated and angry! Thoughts of suicide were circling.

My faith has been through many phases since my naïve and shiny youth. It has been through times of tremendous depth and a sense of closeness to God (wonderful). It has been through a sense of God’s abandonment, followed by a long time in a spiritual desert wondering if any of the past faith had been real. Most recently, while I believe God has everyone’s best long-term interests at heart (think “afterlife”), God also lets us suffer all sorts of earthly misfortunes without protection. I had no sense at all that God would keep me out of the mental hospital or pay my bills.

 

It was during this darkest of times that I got a good hard look at how much pride I have had in my own abilities. I have been creative and persistent. I have risen from catastrophic loss and reinvented my life again, and again, with “my” irrepressible optimism and creativity, and faith. I am strong.

 

But this time I couldn’t rise. I had nothing. I couldn’t get myself out of this nosedive. I was not in charge of my life at all.

Into this desperate space came the words of a dear friend. “You must pray for a resurrection. You must ask for your life back and pray for a resurrection.” I choked up, both at the ridiculousness of the notion (a resurrection for me?) and at the poignancy. I wanted a resurrection with all my heart!

I began praying daily for a resurrection that I doubted would ever come. I cried over my journal day after day, sick and still limping, gaining weight, unable to find regular work, and sinking in debt. I prayed for a resurrection, not even knowing what that meant. I just wanted to live again.

 

As the days passed and tears flowed I came to an important realization: Nothing I had, NOTHING was ever mine. “My” creativity? A fluke of genetics and environment. “My” perseverance? Sufficient privilege plus pure stubbornness and wishful thinking. The peculiar blend of talents and academic ability I had enjoyed? Just what came with along with brown eyes, depression, and a love of theater. I was responsible for none of it. I never had been.

This felt incredibly vulnerable – reduced to the absolute dependency of a newborn. Nothing I had ever done or been was of my creation. It was not of my will, nor from my “powerful manifestation skills,” nor because I “tried harder” than others. Nothing. NOTHING. I was 100% not the creator of any of the good in my life. I have been helped my whole life long even while I took all the credit.

 

Then followed this realization.  If I am not the source of “my” gifts and talents, neither am I the source of my misfortunes. I don’t deserve blame for my current suffering any more than I deserve praise for any successes. By owning my successes, I was also owning my failures, when in neither did I have much power at all.

That release of responsibility for all success and all failure in my life landed deeply in my body. I gained new ease, moving away from quite such desperate EFFORTING in my life.

 

Slowly, my life began to improve. My psychiatric practitioner let me discontinue two of the new medicines. In quick succession coordination, stamina, and balance returned. I could sequence thoughts again. I began to be interested in life again. My broken foot was a little less painful each week. Nevertheless, it was mid-September and I still had no way to make a living. I will never again underestimate the physical and psychological toll of having no income and no way to get one.  

 

Then, on the 27th of October, money from Dad’s estate landed in my account. It changed everything. I paid all my debts. I paid Sam’s debts too, making up for all my missed rent at the same time. I found myself trembling with relief. I cried repeatedly as the tremendous weight slid off my shoulders.

 

I now had a way forward. The inheritance is by no means enough to retire on. But it is enough for me to return to Canada where I can finish my psychotherapy certification without starting from the beginning. I can go into practice and finally earn a living wage. My inheritance is making this possible. My inheritance has produced what feels like a full resurrection.  I feel as though I got an amazing, undeserved miracle (my life back).

We have always planned to retire in Canada. It seems I’m making the move early and building a place for us there. Sam can’t follow me yet. His workplace just slammed the door on working from another country. Still, we can visit each other. We will be a two-country couple starting Jan 31, 2022. It’s going to be hard, but it is the only path forward that I can see.

 

Sam’s job has remained steady throughout the shut-downs, re-openings, and re-shut-downs, which is a huge blessing. In October we attended a long-planned family reunion with my kids and their families in Muskoka, Ontario. This was near Canadian Thanksgiving and one month before my 60th birthday. It was also over Sam's and my 5th wedding anniversary. We had a LOT to celebrate! The colors were stunning. Sam really took to the Muskoka region (finding craft breweries) and fit in well with the family.

 

Granddaughter Andrea presented me with a portrait. It has my top-knot, my glasses, and even the string I keep on my glasses so I don’t lose them. I am officially a grandma and no denying it.  

I spent two weeks in my hometown caring for my dear “adoptive” parents, Paul and Beryl Simonetti, who had both descended abruptly into disability. It felt wonderful to be there and care for them. I felt needed and also valuably helpful as the family adjusted to disabled parents, doctor’s visits, stair-lifts, and a search for assisted living.

 

As soon as I got home we set out on a Caribbean cruise, a treat from Sam’s sister. Before we flew home we spent several days with my sister Marcia and her wife in Florida. It was so good to see them in their new home.

Do I have a spiritual message to share? I will leave you to draw your own this year. Maybe prayers don’t change God, but these ones changed me and carried me from June - October. Can money be an answer to a prayer? It has given me freedom and dignity. It has given me hope and a future. That feels like an answered prayer. I feel like I was granted a resurrection, which is a gift of incalculable worth.

 

Thank you for listening. Thank you for reading all the way through this!

 

We send wishes that all created beings might find freedom from want, the dignity of autonomy, inclusion, comfort, and joy this coming year regardless of what any viruses are doing! 

AliSam

The new address for Alison 

as of Feb 1, 2022, will be 

57 Queen Street North, #712

Kitchener, ON. 

CANADA   N2H 6T7