Our grandmothers were sisters…and inseparable. They were always together…talking, laughing, bickering and cooking. Italian matriarchs of a large and fruitful family.
We were their granddaughters…me and my big sisters…Lisa and her little sisters…a gaggle of girls watching, giggling, learning, playing, listening and eating the love-infused food they made for us.
Me and my sisters and cousins…I’m the littlest one (in the green jump suit) and Lisa’s the blonde one in the top right. *note the awesome wallpaper in the background*
Twenty years have passed since we’ve seen each other in the flesh. It’s been two whole decades since our eyes have met…since we’ve spent time side by side talking, laughing, cooking and eating together.
She moved off to Alaska and I moved off to Colorado, our visits home to Massachusetts never quite lining up over all these years.
But the power of healing transformation brought us back together again across the distance as adults.
And, this past weekend, after all these years we were together again in the flesh. She flew out to visit my sister and I here in Colorado…a reunion of sisters and cousins and history and healing.
We hiked up into the rugged Rocky Mountains, gathering wild salad for dinner and elderberries for winter medicine, talking and laughing, taking pictures and soaking up the beauty all around us…saturated in gratitude for family and health and the blessing of life and movement.
Lisa in the Rocky Mountains
Running down the trail behind her in a gentle rain I marveled at how energetic and agile she is. How amazing it is that she can walk and run and hike and play.
It’s a miracle and a blessing that any of us can do all these things but I marvel because just 6 years ago Lisa was on the verge of being crippled by Multiple Sclerosis.
She had already been experiencing symptoms and receiving medical treatment for a couple of years at that point. Her disease was progressing as expected, gradually degrading her nervous system, draining her energy and impeding her movement. The outlook was bleak…her biggest fear and sadness was not being able to be active with her kids as they grew.
She heard through the family grapevine that I had become a holistic health counselor so she reached out to me for support.
As I heard her story my heart aligned with the mission of facilitating a profound transformation for her. I hadn’t worked with MS before and didn’t know what we would be able to do but I dove in with her to find out.
I didn’t realize it at the time but this healing journey is what would transform me from a health counselor to a personal transformation coach.
During that next year and a half we worked together over the phone to peel back the physical, emotional and spiritual layers of her disease. We shifted her diet and drew on the support of natural herbs and supplements. We discovered unconscious beliefs, behavior patterns and old wounds that were robbing her of her power and sense of self. And we unleashed a clarity of vision for her to live a healthy, empowered life and to really BE there for her kids in all the ways that she longed to.
She worked courageously to meet all the challenges and tests within her process and experienced a radical and breathtaking transformation.
Eighteen months after we had begun our work together her energy was back and her symptoms were gone. Her annual MRI revealed that all but one of her spinal lesions had vanished and there was practically no sign of MS in her system. Her neurologist was baffled…and said “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up!”
A while after that she was able to get off the medications she’d been taking for years. Now she’s been off the medications and symptom-free for about 2 years.
All of this is wonderful…but what really gets me excited about her transformation is the way she has embraced LIFE as an adventure with an unparalleled love of beauty and childlike wonder.
These days she loves to head off into the wilderness of Alaska with her kids and friends to explore the beauty of the natural world…ice climbing, back country skiing, snow camping and mountain climbing…all the while taking exquisite photographs of the beauty she finds.
Lisa cross country skiing in Alaska
