Always a Student

My parents instilled a deep appreciation for learning from an early age. Education was highly prized in my family - my mother earned her LCSW from the University of Michigan with a focus on children with special needs.  My father designed a five-year accreditation program in Architecture at Andrews University, one of the only two such programs in Michigan at that time. My eldest sister Margaret dedicated herself to over a decade of education and training to become a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, and my younger sister Kim earned a master’s degree in international communications with a full scholarship to Pepperdine University. 

Meanwhile, dyslexia rendered my schoolwork painful, despite a quick and curious mind hungry for knowledge.  I would drop my knapsack by the front door each day after school, not touching it again until it was time to leave the next morning. I wanted to learn like everyone else but didn’t know how to ask for help.

Unable to process the relentless lines of text marching across the pages of my textbooks, I took comfort in swimming, running, and riding, and was an unexpected hit at local and national pageants. As a freshman at the High School I begged to attend because of its illustrious sports program, my name and race times would be announced every morning along with the other top student-athletes.  I loved horses – still do – and was an intuitive and accomplished rider, both competitively and at our famliy’s Montana ranch. Confidence in my physical agility allowed me to thrive in spaces where my dyslexia would not.

My tree of knowledge began to bear fruit in adulthood, an intellectual homecoming preceded by years of wandering in the desert of addiction. Though my life’s journey took me far away from religion and any idea of God, sobriety brought me slowly back- finally, I had the tools, the time, and the self-acceptance to accept the unique way I process information. Like a Prodigal Daughter vowing never to forsake her home again, I learned to work with my brain, not against it. I began a deep pursuit to understand the five major world religions, followed by a period of contemplation and discernment, after which I chose Christ. 

Faith delivered me into the arms of awe, with curiosity a driving force behind my hunger for knowledge. I read everything I could get my hands on. For the first time in my life, I experienced the grace of learning. I devoured books about archaeology, history, spirituality, and time. I journeyed to truth through the pages of books.

Today, I’m fascinated with how God lives within us - how God speaks to us and through us- and how the neuroscience behind Polyvagal Theory and Trauma-Informed Coaching brings us closer to one another and ourselves.  For while I cherish my mornings spent in quiet contemplation, diving into the ocean of knowledge is no solitary pursuit. The richness of human experience and the boundless depths of the soul are honored best through the four pathways of connection: with self, with others, with the world at large, and with the spirit within us all.

On my nightstand:
 A life-changing meditation on the Aramaic Prayers of Jesus Christ