My Story
(not the whole story . . . just a chapter)
is all about connecting with the Golden Threads
to create a meaning life full of wild, wonder.
My Roots
I’ve traced my ancestral lineage back to the Scott-Irish, English and Native Americans. My most recent family heritage is deeply Southern Appalachian. My family settled in the Appalachian Mountain Region in the early 1800’s. They loved it so much they decided to stay and I’m so glad they did.
I was born and raised in East Tennessee at the foothills of the Smokies. It’s true to say that the Mountains, Rivers, Rocks and Streams were instrumental in my upbringing. My magical childhood was filled with imaginary play, hiking, church and neighborhood shows (produced and directed by yours truly). Where I come from, the roads are curvy, the cookin’ is a country and the people are kind.
My parents would have given us kids the sun and the moon if they could. I owe them so much. They each have the heart of a servant and the kind of Faith that can move mountains. There was always laughter in our home. It’s how we coped with everything. Love was abundant and unconditional. Cultivating community was how we used our creative gifts. Whether it was a birthday party, youth retreat or slumber party, my parents knew how to make people feel welcome, loved and inspired.
It’s because of them that I had the courage to follow any dream that landed in my orbit. By ingraining a strong sense of Faith, teaching me the value of Community and supporting my every heart’s desire, I am able to dream with Confidence.
moving through the world
My movement journey began young. Like most kids, I loved climbing trees, riding bikes, running from yard to yard. I fell in love with dance in my teens, but by 16 I was already disconnected from my own body, and dance made that impossible to ignore. By my twenties, I'd run from it entirely. Movement became less about expression and more about control.
In 2014, I adopted my dad's childhood dream and spent four months thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail with him. The thud of my feet on the dirt, the weight of my pack, the fresh air — that was the beginning of coming back into my body and reawakening my senses. I quit my corporate job, moved to Asheville, and started writing morning pages, inspired by The Artist's Way.
when it all fell apart
In 2016, life broke me wide open, giving me several of those “character building years.” Without going into the messy details - let’s just say I was having a major personal crisis that sent me deep into a dark spiral of depression that lasted years.There was loss, deep grieving and a long stretch of hopelessness.
I devoted myself to staying open and curious, and I searched in every direction I could think of — studying the healing arts intensely, exploring esoteric anatomy, energy work, astrology, shamanism . . . trying anything that might help me feel whole again.
coming back into my body
Motherhood was the first real threshold. I gained immense gratitude for a body that could do something so miraculous — and after postpartum depression, I became a certified yoga teacher. Slowly, dance found its way back to me too , but not the performing kind I'd run from. It was the kind where no one was watching. I began clearing the fear of moving freely for myself, not for an audience. (well, except for two littles)
It was in that freedom, in coming back to my body, learning how to sit through discomfort that I began to hear the Hymns that would lead me back to the Faith I was raised in.
I thought I was healed once, before that. I eventually learned that real healing is a forever practice.
where i am now
Since then, I've had a third baby, published more books and homeschool on the side of a mountain. My heart work is writing my newsletter: The Sunday Night Special and facilitating classes that combine movement and writing. I come to the classroom humbly, because I know there is always more to know, more to discover, plenty of room for growth. Oh, and I'm currently at work on a memoir about what it actually means to root in a body, in a marriage, and a life when you have a tendency to stray.
It all starts within.
Want the fuller story? Click here.