
Dear Blog Relative,
We lived in Wheaton, IL for a bit, when I was in 4th and 5th grades. Lots of my dad’s family had deep roots there, and they were big fans of reunions. What I remember most was pie. Also Baptist churches and school playgrounds. And about a zillion cousins!
Today, I spent time at family reunions, too. Different than the ones I grew up with! Today, July 22, is known by many folks as the feast day of Mary Magdalene. (And, no… most of those folks aren’t Baptists! Or Presbyterians, either, for that matter!)
I have another “reunion” meeting coming up shortly so I’ll keep this quick.
Question: What do Mermaids and Mary Magdalene have in common???
Answer: Magic!
Now, this is where things get tricky because there are lots of people with lots of widely differing notions of all those “M” words. And the one thing I know for sure is that we all have to sort issues this big out for ourselves! Images have been very helpful to this word person along the way!
The one we began with was a huge door for me. I painted her during the Red Madonna journey @ 2019. Officially, she is Our Lady of Fierce Compassion. She was one of 5 paintings we did that year and I was really new at all the art stuff. While I was working on her, there was a huge crisis going on at the US/Mexican border. Well, a huge crisis for people who care about people! My Lady materialized sheltering Mexican children, separated from their families, within her embrace of compassion.
About 3 years later, I – in the midst of learning more new things – realized that she is The Magdalene!
You’ve probably met my friend, Destiny Joan, along the way… the Mermaid part of the family!

Then, there’s my current #wip! Officially, #Threshold. The official title, according to my dreams is “I Am Legend” and she says she’s me! (That’s more to sort than we have time for just now… and, as you might be reading this story for the 2nd or 3rd time, recently, you can assume that I, too, am still sorting all this!)
This is, indeed, where we are in this moment and it feels like huge progress even though it doesn’t much look like it, yet. She and I are so hoping you’ll stay tuned. (We are also making big progress on the tweens and teens book-in-progress!)

My next reunion, for this day, begins in about 20 minutes. More stories. More cousins. More magic!
ps… if you’re ready for some magic, too, check this invitation out! And, hurry!!!
