Dreaming and living free...

I grew up... with the sense that I could dream and do anything. And so, I dreamt of:
• Huck Finn(ing) down the Mississippi on a raft I would build myself
• rescuing airmen downed at sea
• building my own penthouse within the beam structure under the roadbed of the Golden Gate Bridge
• surfing the winter storm waves of Lake Michigan
• riding my bike as far as local landmass would allow.
• living as a self-sufficient hunter/gatherer mountain man
• mimicking Thor Heyerdahl and rafting the Pacific in search of a Lemurian island paradise
• plumbing the depths of aboriginal wisdom by joining a native peoples tribe
• making music that would inspire children to spontaneously dance for the first time in their life
• discovering a cure for a life-threatening disease
• vagabonding the world with an Airstream trailer, gutted and fitted to resemble the living space of a teepee

My mom did not have a job, but she oversaw the finances of our family. She and Daddy always made sure we had a roof over our heads, food to eat and clothes to cover our Adamian nakedness.
Her sister was raped by a Nazi soldier and her brother-in-law helped blow up trains carrying Nazi supplies. Mom’s Mama died in the “Spanish” flu pandemic and her Papa died of grief two weeks later. All she really owned through all of this was - Jesus - a relationship she chose in her Norwegian childhood. It was this reality (I believe) that made her so functionally free. The gift of life was free because she held Jesus personally responsible for it - not to do what he dictated but rather what he modeled for her to choose. So for her life was free because of who Jesus was to her and what she believed he made available to her. She didn’t really talk that way - she just lived that - every morning early taking it over with the big “J”. And her life was completely free in that respect and responsible because of her imitating Jesus - the one who “gave his life” for her. She wanted me to become a physician but I didn’t have the sight of blood gift - I had the gift she gave me. The gift of... dreaming and living free. 11/18/2020