Identity – Reconnecting to Who We at our Core

May 18, 2025Leave a comment

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about identity lately – sparked, in part, to recently having a First Person Account published by CBC titled “I had a loving family. My life changed at 46 when my birth sister revealed I was adopted. My parents hid my adoption. But somehow, the truth brought us closer.”

I’ve been doing a series of videos over at the Inner Wisdom Lab Youtube channel where I speak to various aspects of identity and offer a few guided visualizations for anyone looking to connect more deeply to their own core essence. And there are more to come.

I have now known about being adopted for 17 years, which seems a bit incredulous. Finding out sparked an identity expansion in some ways. In a moment, everything changed, yet nothing changed – with respect to my life, my immediate family and my sense of identity.

Identity and Core Essence

In thinking about identity, I am curious about what is underneath personality traits, skills, abilities, life events … and, I have arrived at core essence. The most basic and important attribute of self that provides a sense of who we are, the inner foundation of being. This essence is constant. In this 7 minute video, I speak about core essence or identity and, in this 10 minute one, I offer a guided visualization for anyone wishing to connect with their own sense of identity or core essence.

Identity and Roles

Sometimes we know and sense our core essence with absolute clarity. Other times it is obscured by layers and layers of roles, expectations – our own and others, doubt, hubris, the minutia of life, disappointments and external successes collected over the course of a life journey. We learn to not trust ourselves, our own inner knowing or wisdom or what our highest self whispers to us along the way. I speak about identity and roles in this 12 minute video and offer a 20 minute guided visualization for any wishing to review the timeline of their life, the roles they took on or were thrust upon them, the gifts in the roles and the opportunity to choose to more fully inhabit some roles and shed others that no longer serve.

DNA and Chosen Family Lineages

Perhaps not surprisingly, over the last 17 years I have also thought about lineage – a lot. DNA and chosen family lineage. DNA does not necessarily a family make. As someone who has been adopted, I feel both of these lineages strongly. I imagine there might be others who feel this way – rooted in at least 2 lineages, if not more.

I have felt most closely connected to my chosen family lineage. One could argue that they chose me since I was a baby at the time. But, if you believe in soul choices and choices made before incarnating, then we chose each other. This is the lineage I grew up with and claimed as my own, since I knew no other until I found out I was adopted. It is very much a part of my sense of self. For a long time, my biological lineage felt abstract.

In more recent times, having connected with a biological cousin who shared the gift of all the genealogical research she has done on my birth mother’s side of the family, something shifted. My sister and I knew that our birth mother’s mother (our grandmother) had had multiple children with different fathers. Our understanding was she had given all the babies up.

I had no idea how many blanks were actually there until that knowledge was shared with me. My birth grandmother had eight children with five different fathers and had not, in fact, given them all up – only the first two, one of which was my birth mother, the second child, raised by an aunt and uncle. Now I have my birth grandmother’s name, and the names of her parents, children, and their fathers, as well as information about the relationships. Having knowledge of my genealogy brings a sense of balance and wholeness I did not expect even as I do not feel a need to connect with all the names that are now etched in my birth lineage.

Identity and Place or Geography

Place and geography influence and shape our sense of identity – where we grew up, where we live, other places that have had a significant influence on our own sense of self. Interestingly, this can expand beyond our own experience to include places that family members are from. I very much have a sense of French Quebec heritage through my dad and of Newfoundland heritage through my mother’s mother (yes I mean the family I grew up in for any who wonder).

My partner, Jerry, is strongly influenced by growing up in the US mid-west. He refers to himself as a flatlander who does not like edges. I, on the other hand, grew up on the coast in a fishing town. People in my family were said to have had the “sea in their blood”. I muse on the influence of place and geography in this 9 minute video and invite people who listen to reflect on what parts of their identity have been shaped by where they grew up or where they live.

Is Finding Your Birth Family a Good Idea?

I am sometimes asked, is searching for your birth family a good idea? One the one hand, it is hard for me to say since this decision was not in my hands. But it reminds me of the famous quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet – “to be or not to be” – although I am not entirely sure way. Searching for birth family is very much an individual choice. Not everyone wants to search, not everyone wants to be found, not everyone connects in relationship and not every story has a happy ending.

Having said that, if you are someone who knows you have biological family out there and are wondering whether it is a good idea, be aware of the expectations and hopes that you carry, and know that for some, it does not or will not answer the questions they are carrying. This can be hugely disappointing.

On the other hand, actually meeting people may not even be necessary to receive answers – like having my birth family tree suddenly fleshed out. And, for many, there are solid relationships that emerge and evolve over time. For my full sister and I, it is almost as if the 40 year gap did not exist.

Me and my sister in Mexico - a year after we reconnected.

On the whole though, there is an invitation to embrace your identity – all of it. And in so doing, remembering what was here before the physical body and after it is gone. It is all essence.

We Were Made for These Times and We are the Ones We are Waiting For

November 25, 2024Leave a comment

It has never been harder and more imperative than ever to accept the challenge offered by Clarissa Pinkola Estes when she wrote, in 2001, “Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.” And, as Gandolph said to Frodo, when Frodo lamented, “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

It feels to me like we are in an overwhelming, fast-flowing white water rapids period of reality and history. Honestly, conditions and circumstances I never imagined would be my experience in my 6^th decade of life. But here we are. Until recent years, maybe the last decade or two, I naively believed that democracy was a given. That hard fought wins would be the unchallenged status quo in perpetuity. I did not imagine that human rights are something that always need to be fought for. This is the lull of having grown up and come to adulthood in the relatively stable decades of the 70s to the 2000s. What a wakeup call.

How are white rapids survived? How do we find our way? As the Hopi Elders’ Prophecy, We are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For, from 2000, says: “There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.”

To find our footing, we need to find a way to navigate the rapids and then find our way out. To do that we need to allow ourselves to be carried by the current until we find a place of refuge, where we can find our footing. While this is happening, we must avoid entrapment or underwater obstacles where danger can engulf us. In today’s world, entrapment could mean becoming lost in “doom scrolling” on our social media feeds or news apps. And there are so many places and ways we can find refuge – we just need to focus and to choose.

Here are a few suggestions for remembering that “we were made for these times” and “we are the ones we have been waiting for”.

Reduce and limit social media scrolling and news watching. My own time dedicated to this has been significantly reduced compared to before the US election. It is possible to stay aware of what is going on in the world simply by perusing headlines and dedicating limited time to these endeavours, without staying long enough to be overwhelmed or to despair.
Notice what is draining you or uplifting you. Turn your attention to sources of inspiration and focus your time on what uplifts you. Give yourself permission to do this because it is okay to find joy, laughter and connection to sustain yourself.
Become aware of the conversations that drain your energy, evoke despair or anger. I seem to have a deep well of anger that surfaces if I pay too much attention to politics or the wars that are being waged – because I am an empath and because the harm to people wounds my heart and my spirit. When I become aware this is happening, I pull out my boundaries and turn my attention or the conversation elsewhere.
Read the full Hopi Prophecy and Clarissa Pinkola Estes full essay as well as other poets and authors who offer reminders of courage and inspiration.
Focus on what is within your control or influence and be or do those things. Sometimes it can take some effort to get started but once in motion it gets easier whether this is writing, meditating, activity, exercise, advocacy or whatever else feels meaningful or helpful to you.
Deepen spiritual or mindfulness practices. They remind us that there is more to the world than the physicality of it and that minding our energy – what we take in and what we give off – is extraordinarily important and life giving.
Know who your people are and hold them close. This can be family, friends, colleagues, authors, poets or people you follow who remind you of the humanity that is still flourishing out there. In another post, I provide a list of people and groups that provide me with inspiration. I may have lost faith in some humans but I have not lost faith in humanity.
Create. Art. Crafts. Poetry. Other writing. Offerings that are in service to yourself and maybe in service to others. Remember we are not chasing perfection, we are evoking what is true for us in any given moment and sharing that to remind ourselves and each other that there are many ways of expression available to us.
Be a spark of light. Este says, “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.

Personally, I am deep in creation with my partner Jerry Nagel and with my dear friend Dana Pearlman (Inner Wisdom Lab). I share more about that in this other post as well as links to some of our work. Jerry and I engage in Shades of Life Conversations with our dear friend Tenneson Woolf. These conversations are timely and nourishing.

Take care of yourself. Pay attention to what nourishes you. Extend this umbrella to the people you care about. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for and we were made for these times.

Ancestral Lineages and Why Invite Ancestors into the Core of Our Personal and Professional Work

October 9, 2024Leave a comment

For those who understand that there is more to life than the physical – that life includes the meta-physical, energetic or spiritual – we know that our lives cannot be separated from the living world within which we are formed, grow, mature and die. This includes a host of living beings, nature spirits, the elements and our human ancestors.

Just like we stand on the shoulders of those who have recently come before us, there is a long lineage of ancestral support that has carved out the path which we now trod. Their support is available to us, whether we are consciously aware or not. We always have the opportunity and ability to invite the ancestors into our lives and many of us do this through some form of prayer, ritual or other acknowledgement.

Ancestral lineages are strong. Our ancestors overcame many hardships to shape a life of meaning, purpose, spirituality and success. Their resilience came from a deep faith that sustained them. Not all who have died become spiritual ancestors; only those who have lived a full measure of life, cultivated moral values and achieved distinction attain this status. Without our ancestors, none of us would exist. We are the living embodiment of our ancestors’ dreams. We honour them with offerings of prayer or other ritual and through acknowledging their presence on a regular basis.

Ancestors are custodians of our lives. They occupy a position of dignity and awe among descendants and they hold great wisdom and knowledge. They have the power to influence the future. They bring good fortune and protect living relatives and future generations when called in. They teach us that the most meaningful life is one lived in service to and for others.

Just as the ancestors are available to us on a personal level, they are also available and ready to support us in our communities and the work we do. In some ways, not acknowledging them, not calling them in, can seem irresponsible, causing us to operate through ego and without the full awareness of all that is available. Deliberately calling the ancestors into community convenings or group gatherings or other facilitation provides a deep foundation from which to be present, to trust and to do the work. In some gatherings this is done transparently in the group, but it doesn’t have to be with the full group. They can be called in silently, they can be called in by the hosting team and they can be invited prior to the gathering.

We can ask for their guidance and make specific requests. We can call on them to bring wisdom, knowledge and support for the actions we take. Our ancestors offer great spiritual guidance and power. They are a deep wellspring of blessings, healing and resource. As we call them in, we bring a different level of presence and potency into our lives and into our work that includes the groups and communities we serve and convene.

We each have support beyond what we think possible. As we hold so much, may we soften, expand our consciousness and open into all that which can hold us.

A Water Guided Visualization

September 17, 2024Leave a comment

Recently, I was out for a walk. Near my house is a path beside a stream and I had the inspiration to record a short guided visualization, incorporating the flow of water. It begins with an invitation to see yourself beside a stream or relaxing in the water – the water gently flowing by. As it does, it cleanses and releases all that does not serve. As that is released, there is room to receive – to be nourished, revitalized, resourced or to welcome gifts into your being. You are then invited to notice what is different, embrace all that has shown up and know you can access it at any time.

Got 5 minutes. Take a listen – the link to the audio is here.

A few people have already listened and this is what they had to say:

“I’m currently healing from an injury and this visualization was just what I needed “

“I received a big hit 🎯. Gifts from the water: a diamond inside a treasure box, a Trident with immense energy, an apple, a cannonball bursting with energy.”

Remember that each person who listens to guided visualizations are offered imagery and symbolism that is specific to you. Here is a link to the one on Energy Renewal. Enjoy. Love hearing the feedback.

Inner Wisdom Activation – Step Boldly into Who You were Born to Be!

September 15, 2024Leave a comment

There is a momentous shift occurring and with this shift is an invitation into expansion and expression of your full self. Many people are experiencing relief, a sense of being re-energized and even joy.

Is it possible that we are in a moment of significant sea tide of change taking root? For people who follow astrology or energy guides, all indications point to this time as sparking new, long-term cycles. As with any cycle, it means some things are ready to die and new things are birthed. The death throes can be loud, frightening and possibly even feel a bit dangerous. I feel some of this when I look at current political scenarios in both the US and Canada as I work to intentionally stay facing a future of optimism and hope.

Dana Pearlman and I are creating a space for a community of wisdom seekers: The Inner Wisdom Lab. We have created a Facebook Group as a starting place for this community and you can go there to join us. We are also offering a 4-week Inner Wisdom Activation Program beginning with the first 2 hour session on September 26 at 1:00 pm EST. Registration is $125 US for all 4 although the first session is free.

This program is for those of us wanting to step more completely into the gifts and talents we know we have yet have not yet fully accessed. The type of gifts and talents that arise from inner wisdom and knowing that we may have ignored, hidden or believed we didn’t have. This is an invitation to rise, both individually and collectively, to meet the moment, renewed, resourced and ready.

Inner Wisdom Activation Information

You find out more at the Inner Wisdom webpage where you can also find a registration link. During the 4 weeks we will cover:

Inner Wisdom Activation: connecting to hidden or forgotten gifts and talents.
Intuitive Triads Community Call: honing intuition to discern and act on synchronicities.
Identifying and Releasing Limiting Beliefs: getting out of your own way – releasing fear, anxiety, shame and doubt to expand access to your inner wisdom.
Sacred Inner Wisdom Creations: what sacred creation do you want to give life to now?

There will be other guided visualizations provided in advance of each week to support you in the journey and you will be invited into reflection exercises to see what arises for you from week to week and note any discoveries that emerge.

An Inner Wisdom Lab Video Series

Dana and I are having a lot of fun in creating this offering. We have been recording some videos to describe what it is, why we have felt called to do this, what’s involved, what guided visualizations are and we share some stories from our own experiences to give people a sense of who we are as well as a sense of what might be experienced. You can find the Inner Wisdom Play List here. Individual videos created so far are listed below.

Inner Wisdom Activation Introduction.
Guided Visualizations: What they are and how they work.
Kathy’s Drumming Circle Story – an early experience.
Dana’s Story of Reiki and Healing.
Dana’s Story – the call to paint.
Kathy’s Story – The call to Gold Lake (and how it connects to the Drumming Circle story from a decade previous).

Community helps us grow. Together we amplify our experiences and our access to energy and intuition. It may be serious and profound work. It’s also fun and invites us to laugh with each other. Come join us and grow your own sense of community and connection.

Enchantments and Enchanted Spaces

September 7, 2024Leave a comment

When I moved into my home in 2010, I had always felt like I had been called to it – or it had called to me. The house I had been living in prior to divorce sold within 24 hours of listing it, with a month to close. This may be one of the most powerful enchantments I have ever done, without actually knowing what I was doing. I wove a spell of letting go and welcome around that house daily for months before the house was listed.

I was wandering through my now neighbourhood the day my old house was being viewed and saw an open house sign. I accepted that invitation and knew immediately upon entering that this was my house. Although my agent took me to see other houses, I didn’t need to see any others. The previous owner was willing to move sooner than he had anticipated – within three weeks – because it was a sale with no conditions.

Lots of Transformation over the Years

Fourteen years later, I still feel the same. There has been a lot of transformation in the house and on the property. It started with converting most of a large storage room into my office as soon as I moved in. That idea came about as I stood, looking out that basement window, saying to myself, in a perfect world, this room would be my office. So mote it be.

Property Transformation

Property transformation began one summer when Jerry was visiting. He took the gardening tools to the trees in what had become an overgrown backyard wilderness of sorts. I learned a lot about being ruthless in taking down tree limbs, line of sight, pausing to see how things looked, before going too far. Trimming the undergrowth from a front hedge became a summer project another year. Other yard work was sparked because my son and daughter-in-law love digging in the dirt and cutting up wood. Projects started while they visited became my mission.

Painting Odyssey

Then there was the painting odyssey of 2020 – thank you Covid. Every room in the house was rearranged, purging did transpire, and fresh colour adorned every wall and piece of trim in the house by early fall.

2022 saw new decks – one that Jerry and I built on our own, nestled a bit higher up than the main deck and into the trees, making it feel like a completely different space and energy – almost like it was in the woods rather than attached to the main deck. A contractor replaced that one.

This spring (2024) saw the takedown of a huge, three-trunk elm tree from my front yard after a large branch came crashing down in big winds, Easter weekend. It was leaning over my house and beginning the slow rot from the inside, so it needed to come down. It has since been transformed into firewood. And, I’m working on removing the oil tank and furnace, to be replaced by heat pumps, this fall.

Enchanted Playhouse and Space

I have often thought about building a playhouse for my grandchildren in a portion of my backyard. That idea was put on hold for a variety of reasons. One recent weekend, as I looked out a stairwell window, I saw that neighbours across the street had put out a child’s hard plastic playhouse for anyone to pick up.

Magically, a playhouse is now in my backyard. It is not the wooden structure I thought I would build – maybe that will come later – but the magical sense of this little house in my backyard, at the end of a path (that once led to something else) truly lends itself to a feeling of enchantment. My grandchildren love it. Looking out from the deck or the living room window, the whole space now looks like an enchanted opening in the wyrd wood where fairies, wood elves and nymphs, and the spirits of the land will now come to gather and spread their magic in the same way I was drawn to my home the very first time I saw it.

One-on-One Guided Visualizations – What They Are and How They Work

August 13, 2024August 13, 2024Leave a comment

How do one-on-one guided visualizations work? Listen here or read below.

One-on-one guided visualizations start with your question or inquiry and, again, offers a story for you to connect to. With the one-on-one sessions, you are invited to share what imagery is coming up for you. As you do so, this creates the opportunity to influence the direction of the story and the questions offered to you – making your journey very specific to you. It means, you can go to a greater depth.

Once you have the symbols and the imagery, you will be able to connect to them long after the guided visualization is complete, continuing to tap into the gifts and inner wisdom that emerged for you during the guided journey. For many people this informs their day-to-day experiences as well as their access to their own intuition and inner guidance.

I am offering guided one-on-one visualizations – if you want to schedule a session with me you can find the link on this page. I would love to collaborate with you on a guided visualization that will help you access your inner wisdom and your inner healing power.

Accessing Your Inner Healing Power: Guided Visualizations

August 9, 2024August 13, 2024Leave a comment

My memoir, Embracing the Stranger in Me: A Journey to Openheartedness, describes my spiritual and healing journey over the first half of my adult life. It was, by and large, a journey of accidental discoveries. Along the way, I tapped into my ability to “see” spirit guides and to offer deep and profound guided visualizations for others.

I have been considering this kind of one-on-one offering for a while now. Recently, I was inspired by one of Lee Harris’s energy updates where he spoke about Sacred Arts Rising and the impulse to share creations in a new and different way.

Embracing my spiritual identity more fully, I have decided to offer one-on-one guided visualizations with the possibility of adding on a follow-up call. We are living in times of significant shift, change and upheaval. Our best recourse for finding our way is to be grounded in who we are – embracing all of who we are. This offering is one resource to support you in this journey.

What

A 1.5 hour guided visualization where you have the opportunity to connect deeply with yourself or with your guides for any of the following purposes:

To access your power and discover ways to live into it more fully.
To access your hidden or forgotten talents and gifts.
To meet a past and/or future self for guidance, messages or gifts.
To meet your spirit guide(s)/power animal(s) and ask them for guidance, messages or gifts.

The Process

This is not me relaying information to you. This is a collaborative process where I provide structure through the visualization, you tune into what is emerging for you and we have a conversation to stay tuned into what is true in the moment.

To schedule an appointment, click here.

Where

On zoom – a link will be shared for the session.

Follow Up Option

These are stand-alone sessions although some people like to do a follow-up to share what happened post the session and ask any questions that are lingering. This would be a 1 hour session.

Fee and Payment

$150 for the guided visualization session.

$225 for the guided visualization and the follow-up.

Payment can be made through e-transfer in Canada, sent to or through paypal from anywhere else, to the email kathy.jourdain@gmail.com. Sessions are not confirmed until payment is received.

To schedule an appointment, click here.

Testimonials

“My guided visualization with Kathy connected me to my spirit guides, with vibrant imagery. I go back to this imagery over and over again for guidance and to tap into a revitalizing energy.”

“I gained valuable insights into patterns in my life that were holding me back and discovered gifts I forgot that I had that I now draw on regularly.”

“Kathy’s voice invites a journey, her questions provide great guidance in the experience and the inner resources that are illuminated offers profound insights into alternative pathways.”

Additional Resources – Journey and Visualization Recordings

What is a Guided Visualization? I speak about it in this post where you can also find a link to a 1 minute audio recording.

What happens in a one-on-one guided visualization? Access the post and short audio recording here.

What is a group guided visualization and how does it work? Access the post and the link to a short audio recording here.

In this post which includes a 7 minute voice recording, shortly after my memoir, Embracing the Stranger in Me: A Journey to Openheartedness was published, I talk about the Compelling Nature of the Journey – so much so that you have to respond to the call of life.

This journey for me was an opening to gifts and talents I did not think possible for me or available to me. I had imagined only “special”, “deeply gifted” and “powerful” people would have access to these kinds of gifts. The realization over time is that we all have access, we all have gifts. Most of us just need to find our way through the persistent story telling that tells us otherwise, that tells us that these experiences are not real, that we are making them up. The mind does not know the difference between what we imagine and what is real – which is why visualization is so powerful. Check out the post and 8 minute audio recording here.

An Antidote to Shame is Transparency

June 1, 2023January 26, 2025Leave a comment

Most of us, if not all of us, have experienced shame at some point in our lives. The work of shame is so powerful that it shuts us down, depletes us of energy and makes us want to hide. It can rob us of vitality and voice. It can feel like shame is sending out signals that you are a person who has failed, that here is someone who wasn’t smart enough to figure out something, someone who misjudged a situation.

An antidote to shame is transparency, using your voice, sharing your story. From my own experience when I felt the power of shame, a few times over the course of my life’s journey, relief started with sharing my story with one or two trusted individuals who witnessed me in that moment. Their reactions – acknowledging, witnessing, validating, seeing the fullness of me beyond the particular situation for which I felt shame – was freeing. It restored trust in myself. Not immediately, but over time.

A partial definition of transparency is “the quality of allowing light to pass through” – and how uplifting to consider light passing through to our heart and soul, soul essence, the core of who we are. Transparency doesn’t have to mean proclaiming everything loudly to everyone – although those who do share profound stories that have been kept secret for a long time provide inspiration and hope for others who have experienced similar situations.

If you have experienced, or are experiencing, shame, know you are not your shame or your experience. Take the time you need to move through it. Find trusted spaces to share your story as transparently as possible and allow yourself to be witnessed into healing.

Dad Would Have Been 90 Today – A Goal He Could Not Achieve

March 29, 2023January 26, 2025Leave a comment

My father had 2 goals in the latter years of his life. Live to be 90 and live out his days on his own in his house. There was never any question that he would go anywhere else. Unfortunately, those 2 goals turned out to be mutually exclusive. His health and mobility deteriorated to the point where even he could see he would no longer be able to live in his house. He died January 16, 2020, with all his faculties still intact. He was in hospital and knew he was dying. At one point on that day he said, “I’m on my way out.” Today would have been his 90^th birthday.

There is so much I could say about him, and have said about him in previous blog posts. Dad must have marvelled that he lived as long as he did, given the health issues he had for most of his life. He had a strong will to live and he was stubbornly determined. I love how he adjusted his expectations of what he could do to keep pace with the slow down of his body. He was resourceful and created many workarounds to be able to continue to do the things he wanted to do and loved to do.

It’s been 3 years and it feels like yesterday. I think about him and my mother almost every day and they both come to me regularly in my dreams. I am grateful for the deepening of our relationship over the last decade or two of dad’s life. I am grateful he got to know and become friends with my partner, Jerry. I am grateful he did not have to live through the chaos of the last three years. I think it would have devastated him.

I know how proud he was of me and I think about my own struggles in life and building a business, how challenging the last few years have been. I always I hope that I can live up to my father’s sense of pride in me, his hopes and expectations for me and my life. He continues to guide me and inspire me, both through what I have learned through his “mistakes” or struggles in life and what I have learned through his accomplishments. As my family constellations continue to expand in unexpected ways, I am grateful he and mom took me in as a baby and for his words, “It was love at first sight.”

He loved his grandchildren and always enjoyed spending time with them – even as he wished it was more time.

In the end there is only love, although in many ways, the story never ends.