Our History
Reflecting backwards on our lives, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. At the age of 19, life found me in love with my future husband, Jonn. As we stepped out on the first part of our journey together, we realized a common dream. It came as a vision of service. We wanted to bring people together; imagining a peaceful setting where they could “grow” within the natural order of land and elements of nature that would hold them. The art of growing things would come to have great significance and meaning in our lives. It became bigger than our preference to grow our own food and our desire to “grow” wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Many years later in life, a beloved indigenous master taught us that if an action did not “grow corn” or result in an abundant, sustaining result, it wasn’t worth doing. Our vision is about growing corn. To realize our life’s work, the need to establish careers that would sustain the vision and bring abundance became a first priority. Nursing seemed an appealing way to contribute to the wellbeing of humanity while also providing the means to support our dreams. From schools, careers, and new jobs came our first home, and our land. The land chose us. We had searched for nearly a year looking for the land that matched this dream. In 1977, while packing our firstborn son, the land chose us. It was apparent from the moment our souls touched this ground, It welcomed us home.
Sometimes, our direction in life becomes altered. We think we know best and with intention we move forward and then, a major event comes and life happens to us. We had become caught up in our careers, the needs of our family, Jonn’s business, and just the routine busyness of day to day family living. We hadn’t transitioned ourselves to the land. The dream was sitting on the book shelf titled, “some day” and we were content. Our family needed closer proximity to Seattle and though we often spent most of our free time on our land camping and enjoying the natural beauty and peace that it held, we remained living closer to the city.
Late in April, 1991, a “life happens” event erupted, forever changing the direction of our lives. Our business in Seattle abruptly ended in fire; immediately sending us into financial chaos. We quickly chose to sell our home for emergency funds rather than sacrifice our land; knowing a radical move to the country would drop kick us into a new life. It sold in three days and within 2 months we moved to our land. We had tried in vain to locate a rental nearby that would hold us until we could build a home. However, there were no rentals in the area and so we camped through 5 beautiful summer and fall months. We planned for our new home and established jobs closer to our new country life.
Country life brought many changes; some more challenging and others filled with cherished memories. It was during these days that we met Hercules, our next door neighbor’s dog. Hercules was 9 months old and at 180 pounds of mostly a wolf blood line, he had quite an intimidating presence. Soon after our first few encounters I noted he had huge burrs caught in his tail that seemed to be causing distress. I was attempting to remove them, but decided differently when he snapped at me as I held his tail and pulled against the burrs. Days later they still remained and were matting deeper into his coat. I took a determined stance that they had to come out. I don’t think I can clearly describe how hilarious the scene became as I stood in a warrior stance, grabbed his hand quarters firmly with my body, and with his tail in my hands, I proceeded to pull the burrs loose. Hercules in turn bent his huge frame literally in two, joined me at his tail, gripped the burrs between his teeth, pulled, and then ferociously spit each glob of fur and burrs on the ground. Laughing with tears rolling down my cheeks, I understood his intent earlier had not been to snap at me, it had been an effort to rid himself of the pain and nuisance the burrs had caused. My assistance at the hind end was what he needed to get the job done and was the impetus which began the joining of our lives and our story together. Not long after, Hercules suffered a major traumatic accident; spending three weeks in the vet clinic. He came home and it was clear his ordeal was not over. As he slowly weakened, I sought his owner out in his behalf. Discovering his owner had given up on him, I found myself nursing him back to life by endlessly dripping nourishment, one drop at a time into his mouth. As Hercules began to recover and gain strength, our bond grew; cementing a relationship that I eventually came to understand as our destiny. My wolf, my animal teacher and friend touched my life with wisdom and love for over 12 years. Through his passing, I received his final gift. Hercules had been with me just the day before, but on this day he was not to be seen. This was not typical and I began looking for him feeling concerned he may be injured somewhere and needing my help. I searched endlessly through the woods to no avail. Knowing his wild nature might have led him to leave for his own death; I sought information and solace with a healer capable of speaking with the animals. She quickly confirmed his passing. He had left knowing it would be easier for me. He called me “my lady” and said he was honored to carry my stories. He said we had been together through many life times and foretold we would be together again. In deep reverence with tears of grief for his passing I beseeched him to tell me how I might find him. His simple response, “my lady, we cannot miss”, was a loving seed of trust growing an eventual understanding I could trust. Destiny is a blossom that blooms; becoming our life. Hercules’ teaching was that in spite of our own efforts to set goals and move our lives in one direction or another that destiny and life move in a direction that is for our highest good. Life does happen. It changes us in ways that we hadn’t planned.
Our home in the country had brought us a step closer to our vision but we had become entrenched in demanding careers leaving little time for dreams. Fortunately for us, destiny holds the upper hand, even when we are lost and in the early spring of 2010, I found myself abruptly unemployed through yet another “life happens” event. I had not found the prior job to be rewarding. I had experienced ethical conflicts and demands that burdened my sense of right and wrong. In the middle of this conflict, I could not see options that made sense. Now free from this viewpoint, I found myself deeply contemplating and soul searching my direction. With the deepest breath of fresh air, I returned back to what we fondly call “plan A”. These other careers and events had simply been plan B. We had become lost, and in the greatest sense of my wolf’s wisdom I humbly returned to my destiny back at the beginning of our dreams. Son’qo was born September 2, 2010, becoming the foundation of our dream.
Besides the personal growth and skills I had acquired in my prior career, I had had the opportunity over nearly two decades to explore my passion for alternative healing and complementary medicine practices. These became skills that became essential ingredients I would need to help birth Sonqo. During this time we had discovered a shamanic path of wisdom. Like the land welcoming us home, these teachings spoke to our souls. Through this path, we discovered our membership to a way of life that brought a sweetness best expressed itself through the heart. Words do not serve us well. Our first teacher informed her students that if these teachings were sincerely practiced as a way of life, their lives would change. Her words, though simple, spoke of a deep truth about right relationship. Walking in the world in right relationship, we learn to live in a way that provides richness, depth and beauty in all aspects of our lives, our joys, our lessons, and our birthright.
It wasn’t just one thing that brought us to this point. It was well traveled path that had wound through many directions. Along this path we gained skills, understandings, blessings, and family that would serve to support our original dream. It was through these teachings where “life happens” we grew our dream. Son’qo is our vehicle for sharing. It is our dream.