The Gift

I was quite ill when I was very young. My folks almost lost me on several occasions. The illness wasn't one that would keep a child bed-ridden, but it would come and go as its strength waxed and waned. One day I'd be healthy and jumping off the backs of chairs, the next I'd be clinging to the sound of my mother's voice just to stay grounded.

As a consequence of this disease, which I still and always will have, my life was full; full of love, full of concern and full of possibility. Most of all, it was full of time and time, especially for a child, puts many options on the table.

Due to the fear that any day could be my last day, my parents moved from a house in town to a small piece of land complete with hay fields, climbing trees and a back yard that abutted miles and miles of heavy forest and old country roads. I didn't have chores, at least not at first, and I could wander where and when I wanted to. I had the freedom to be able to run away, live a life completely my own for that day, and to be kindly acdcepted back to that familiar anchor without question or without guilt - as my parents were not the kind to strap their fears on to the backs of their children. That freedom, those hours of time, they had freely given me as a gift. Few children then, were fortunate to receive that type of a gift and many children now will never know it. Most adults that were given this gift have forgotten it or have traded it in for other more tangible things. I have never lost sight of it.

So, you may ask: Why do I write about something so elusive? Well, this blog, this site, stems from that gift, as a gift only endures and only retains its magic if it continues to be freely given. Thus I give to you my readers, the gift that was so graciously given to me. It's called Freedom to Wonder and it's fueled by Curiosity, is upheld by Truth and it is ever changing due to Magic. It can be constrained by Jealousy and destroyed by Fear. Please use it, treat it kindly, and pass it on. Read on my friends and know Wonder. Take the time to truly See and Taste it. Hold it in your hand, up to the Universe and let it grow.

I'm Jetta Broom, I listen, I write, I hold Wonder in a vial of Time, and I'm ...

... In The Headlights.