Writer's Island - The Stranger

This past year an unknown person rose up and saluted me. She looked around - casual and relaxed. The chain that held her back had snapped. It wasn't the only chain holding her back but what she learned from working with the binding links taught her the lessons she needed to deal with the remaining chains.

The stranger who emerged wasn't entirely unknown. Many of her aspects were familiar and not unwelcome. But beneath the padded exterior, the stranger reared up and demanded admittance to the light, whispering words shouting, "Listen to me. Hear me." The stranger revealed her hidden sides - poet, artist, dreamer, gatherer.

The stranger appeared seven months ago. In that time layers of fear and doubt have eroded and dissolved. Protective padding has slipped away. harping voices have come, gone, come and gone again and always the stranger gained strength.

She looked through my eyes and examined the world in a newer way. The gentle prodding and urging of the stranger helped to release, to let go of the chains of material possessions. The stranger's mission - to show what is important, what to keep and what to say good-bye to. But most importantly, what to say hello to and welcome.