Silver and Gold

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other, gold.
A circle's round
It has no end
That's how long
I'm gonna be your friend.
- "Make new friends (but keep the old)
Traditional Folk Song 

That's me and Pete in our booth at Earth Day, 2011 introducing Fragrance Free in '23 

That photo of Pete and me was taken on a blustery April day in 2011. We were out and about with our newly rooting life on Whidbey Island. Slowly I was regaining strength and our Vardo for Two was getting used to the rural South end island world. We were sharing 5 simple steps to becoming fragrance and chemical free. Earth Day great occasion for remembering to love the Mother the place that holds us every day.

Earlier this week Pete and I had a golden opportunity to keep growing an established friendship with our South Whidbey Tilth community; and encourage a new friendship with Aurora Levins Morales. Here's what I wrote on a post entitled "Coach me" on a blog (an old friend) which has been quietly and silently waiting for a time to be loved anew.

"A friend and I sat at the counter of the Tilth kitchen yesterday afternoon. The wet and blustery Elementals had gone somewhere, a nice patch of blue sky greeted us as Pete hustled around on a stepladder reattaching the roofing paper on the lean-to.

Prescott and I were meeting so I could introduce her to Aurora Levins Morales. Until a few weeks ago I did not know of this longtime change agent, activist and author of Medicine Stories. All that changed when Angie Hart, Tilth's Farmers' Market Manager and 2016 Apprentice sent me an email asking "Do you know this woman? She writes medicine stories and has MCS."

Last night Pete joined other members of the South Whidbey Tilth Council to cheer lead and grow our commitment to communities that are fragrance free safe zones. A new friendship with longtime activist, writer, teacher and curandera Aurora Levins Morales is growing now. The spark of connect began with a young woman's kilo (keen observation of a potential). Angie Hart heard an interview on the radio while she was taking a road trip to visit friends and Tahoma (Mt. Rainier). Angie sent me an email with a query: "Do you know this woman?" I said, "No." Not yet I did not know Aurora Levins Morales. I was saving that moment, reserving energy for sharing medicine stories first. After the stories did Feed the Land with medicine stories, I found this site.

I'd said a prayer during the stormy weeks of late summer, asking for a mentor, an activist of color who was living the life, walking the walk, and sharing the stories. Na 'Aumakua my Guardians heard the request. They sent me to an online home, where I discovered Aurora Levins Morales plans to be in Seattle in late December. She needs a place to be before or after her scheduled event. I emailed her with an offer to come visit us at the South Whidbey Tilth, She wrote: "That's fabulous!" in reply to this message, "

 Aloha Aurora,
We have just met with Prescott, the president of the Tilth council to introduce you and your casita for change. She is very excited, newly informed and inspired. An agenda for Thurs' meeting is in the works, and forward movement is in process with a letter of invitation to you part of that agenda. I mua. Your website is an education, she's got it on her Bookmarks!

So there you have it, make new friends but keep the old. We are excited, inspired, loving life where we are rooted. The invitation to a new friend is making that silver connection. Que bueno!