I made this card for my good friend, Lis Gordon, who died July 2, 2011 after 18 months of pas de deux with a rare form of cancer.  She had been doing really well, for several months, and then wham! She was gone.

That’s her in the center of the card in her white Lay Eucharistic Minister robe of the Episcopal Church. Lis was a wonderful friend and our journey together started at St. Peter’s in Beverly MA when I moved there in 1992.  She was in my EFM class (as a 4th year when I was just starting) and she was my stepdaughter Amanda’s sponsor for confirmation in 1993 (or thereabouts).

She was a writer herself and was very good at reading rough drafts of my work- nonfiction and fiction both, and gave me excellent feedback and good criticisms that always made my work much better.

When I became a SoulCollage Facilitator in 2005, Lis was the first one to sign up for my beginning workshops. She took to SoulCollage like the proverbial duck taking to water!  She attended many of my workshops, participated in our monthly Soul Sisters card making group, and her enthusiasm for this process and for my KaleidoSoul work kept me going on even the most discouraging days.

Today, I drew Lis’s card from my deck in my every–other-daily reading. Here is what she had to say to me. I must say, it fills me with a deep sadness and at the same time, a deep joy, to know that she is not here physically but “sitting” right next to me on this sofa in spirit!

I am the one who is celebrating new life even tho I am no longer there with you. I am the one who is in the midst of divine transformation and new growth on many levels, I can’t wait to see you again to tell you all about it.

Time is immaterial here and you will love it here.

I am all things at once here- happy child, laughing crone, white sacred buffalo woman. 

I am here and I am there, and you will understand this if you close your eyes and listen inside.

My message for you today is this- I am sorry we didn’t get to say good-bye when it was time for me to leave my physical body. But I don’t feel like we have left each other. I am with you in spirit, as close as when our bodies enjoyed lunch together across my kitchen table, or as close as when we made SoulCollage cards together at your dining room table.