The Ancestors
In the mid-1980's my mom went on a small radio tour to promote her previously published book for people with lactose intolerance and milk allergy. A pioneer at the time, she was one of the few experts out there doing the work to help people everywhere find new ways to enjoy dairy-free foods and help mothers raise their children without milk. As the rise in "Got Milk" ad campaigns across the states left parents without much mainstream support, my mom wrote and delivered a quarterly newsletter with the latest research and recipes, creating a safe space for these conversations long before milk alternatives became popular coffee shop must-haves.
This radio tour led her to Arizona, with stops in Phoenix, Flagstaff, and finally Sedona, where she picked up a couple of rocks and lots of inspiration to bring home to us. My preteen heart burst with curiosity when she arrived with tales of magic and mystery that Sedona left her with, and I knew that someday I'd love to visit there myself.
It would be nearly four decades until I seized the opportunity to travel to Sedona. I recently returned to Iowa from a week-long retreat in Sedona, Arizona, with Brand Aura Studio and learned both tangible up-levels for my marketing, and powerful inner shifts to embody the message of my upcoming book, Every Day, I'm Brave (set for a fall 2025 release date!). I was expecting some of the magic my mom had talked about years ago, but what I didn't expect was the deep resonance and acknowledgement of her entrepreneurial journey, and the presence of my maternal grandparents' spirits guiding the way.
As the retreat opened, our leader, Athena Llewelyn called in the energy and wisdom of our ancestors. I took it to be a collective holding, a way to honor those who came before us and call in their support as we dove deep into the teachings in the days ahead.
I'm just now beginning to weave together all the pieces, but there were messages all week that came through different retreat participants, in different ways, that pointed directly toward my grandparents. There was a beautiful, steadfast woman present who reminded me of a younger version of my Grandma: her hair, the way she carried herself with grace, so well put together. The voice of a man channeled through my friend at a vulnerable moment delivered precisely what I needed to hear to push myself forward through a huge visibility block, and then, in the closing ceremony, the same woman who reminded me of my grandma spoke about her meditation and revealed that she had seen a vision of a man with thick silver hair in her mind's eye, and I knew instantly it was my Papa and teared up.
What is poignant to me here is that separately, these could just be coincidences, all together, however, they help me understand a larger message: that we continue to be supported by those who came before us. Regardless of how long my grandparents have been gone, or the relationships I had with them in the physical world, their essence lives on. Legacy may start with genetic coding, but it is infused with the energy of upbringing, of experience, of emotion.
I am choosing to make sense of this magic in a way that affirms I am on the right path, that our stories matter, and that we can all be grateful for the ancestors that helped bring us to this moment, a powerful transformational time in which we can honor the past in order to change the future.
I'm grateful for the experience of Sedona, of the richness that community, curiosity, and courage bring forth. I will continue to unpack what happened there and all I learned, and as I do so I will remember that my mom showed me what a trailblazer looks like, that my grandmother taught me grit and grace, and that my Papa showed us all what gentle, supportive love entails.
