PeaceFleece's FIRST Summer, 2011

The PeaceFleece lent it's colorful warmth to be part of the backdrop after a memorial service back 'home'. You know the show "South Park"? Co-creator Trey Parker went to the same school the other 'girls' in this picture went! (Also in the photo is some of the mothers and my sister.) I like to bring this up when I'm talking with people about where I grew up, and brought it up at the table when enjoying some really wonderful barbecue afterwards.

In photo: read below, and if anyone in the photo lets me know they'd be good with their name being posted, I will edit you in. I'm sitting on the ground with the animal print, which I chose in honor of the animal-loving man we were remembering and memorializing this beautiful summer day in 2011 in Conifer/Evergreen, Colorado

They had a wonderful service, officiated by a new graduate of a Christian theology school, who did a remarkable and touching job. In talking with her afterwards, I said I wanted her to do my service if she could turn down the Christian and turn 'up' the New Age. She said "I used to believe as you do, and 10 years ago, if you told me I'd be doing this (pointing to her garb and cross/necklace), I wouldn't have believed you!" It's just fascinating how many people have transitioned from one realm to another recently; I believe it's a good sign and it is certainly a sign that something's 'going on'. There have been so many transitions recently that I observe; relationships ending or beginning, lives ending or beginning. Kind of like the Peace Sign, which last year was simply the subject matter of a piece written by our Yenta at Lumigrate that today has turned into a Peace Fleece movement!

I now realize that this was taken on what was, essentially, the Peace Fleece's six month anniversary, as it was a holiday gift to me and Lumigrate from Yenta -- it's first appearance was in Ouray, Colorado's Ice Climbing Park (Ouray is knowns as 'The Switzerland of America', and here it is, again in the mountains of Colorado, but in the summertime!

I was attending the memorial service for my life-long friend's father, which naturally had it's reflective and sad moments and aspects, but which was presented by the resilient and upbeat family in such a way as to have truly been joyful as well. As people were finishing eating and preparing to head on home or onto their next event that day, I asked if people wanted to come out and take a photo with the Peace Fleece. None of the people are particularly following Lumigrate so didn't know beforehand what the PeaceFleece IS, but they do now! And since Yenta said to me "Honey, I want you to use it to help the fibromyalgia cause", which "inspired" me to have people take their photos with it (with or without me), it now has touched the lives (and bodies ) of people who were with me back when I had a security blanket or two! And this blanket seems to have some special healing properties that go along with it, as I've written about elsewhere. Likely, 'fibromyalgia' has a different place in their minds now, and I hope Yenta gets lots of satisfaction from knowing that.

Just as a well-done memorial can bring joy and reflection, a lovingly and creatively made blanket can as well; there are butterflies which are interspersed with the peace signs; butterflies being the symbol within the fibromyalgia community for fibromyalgia. Purple is the color of fibromyalgia as a cause, which you can see at the ground is the color of the back side of the blanket.

I'm glad the PeaceFleece 'reminded' and motivated me to interrupt the flow of what was going on to suggest getting a picture, as there's much I see in this photograph about'community'. There is a community forming at Lumigrate which at some levels is 'virtual' but at other levels is very 'real', as I work to network the providers together in some way or another. Lumigrate has only been 'alive' for two years or so now, and it's encountered SUCH interesting people and that only continues to evolve.

The weekend this photograph was taken, a social ecologist who became aware of Lumigrate and me via Facebook had volunteered to start writing something about how communities form and evolve to have distinct "personalities", essentially, something I look forward to reading when it is completed and posted. So 'community' was on my mind before arriving at this 'shin-dig' as someone jokingly calls things here in Colorado and this gathering and photograph have inspired some thoughts I'd like to share with you here.

I've had the pleasure of being part of these people's lives for essentially, my whole life. We've been through SO MUCH together, and among those of us who were in school together we have a terrific bond that many remark is unique. Being a 'student of psychology', I have wondered why that is -- was it unique circumstances, people, hobbies and interests that caused this 'admirable attachment'? And ironically, though I am not a horse 'person', particularly, it was horses that lead to the connections I formed as a wee child and which I see in this photograph.

My sister got a pony when I was 2 and the community activity of 4-H allowed her to meet the area women who had daughters or granddaughters my age. And then we went to school and met others. Then we grew up and went 'away' and met others, and we all end up 'like family', which is what I call 'framily'. The 4-H leader from the 1960s is sitting in the middle of the group and is still an avid horsewoman as is the woman sitting on the left with the sunglasses on -- she won at National Western Stock Show this year, even!. In the early to mid 1960s, my mother was the dog 4-H leader for our community, which also networked us with a different group of people in the community.

My mother passed away when I was 27, coming up on 25 years now, and I'll never forget the oddness of that in my life and particularly in the family home because she was the 'facilitator' of so much, and it was a huge adjustment. Other women in my life have come forward to fill that 'place' in one way or another; it's just part of life that we are handed new challenges and that includes people passing and changing things up for how we 'go about life'. And to this day, thanks to the wonders of facebook, people still remember and talk about her impact on their lives, as she became an elementary school teacher in the area, about a mile or two from where this photo is taken at the school that Trey Parker would later go to and go on to co-create "South Park", giving us something in common to talk about here today as well as at the service and bringing everyone together over something most can related to. That's what it's all about, as they say, and the PeaceFleece gives US all something in common. So thanks again to Yenta and to all in the photo and who read and write/contribute at Lumigrate.

The Peace Fleece and fibromyalgia can similarly contribute to building the community at Lumigrate, and while it might not be as 'high maintenance' as a horse, I hope it has the same effect of bringing people together and allowing for learning about something that's very complicated, big, and difficult to tame, but which, with work, can be reined in and managed.

To life, learning and community! And also, to the interconnection of people and animals and what they do to enhance our lives ~~

Mardy

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Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [1] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

PeaceFleece's FIRST Summer, 2011

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