"Maybe dogs were one of the secrets of the Universe" - Aristotle and Dante 

The Birds fly in flocks, the Elk travel in herds, the Wolves in packs. I want to recognize and thank the group in which surrounds me and has been a supporting and connecting system - just like the underground root system of trees, always communicating, always supporting one another (separate but together:). This group includes deeply rooted individuals and also ones whom I had the honor of meeting here on my travels on the Oregon Coast throughout my own personal quest. 

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I first want to thank Kevin and Katie Shluka, who not only have created a beautiful living place right along the coastline and were also the ones to introduce me to the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. I am truly grateful for meeting the Shluka's and seeing the inspiring life they lead. 

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Thank you to the Sitka Center! To all of those who keep it going through promoting art in the local schools, bringing the most wonderful and professional instructors from all around the world in to teach, and putting on an art show to showcase local artists and residence. Thank you for being a safe space for people to come and create - what a beautiful blessing of a place! It was an absolute pleasure and blessing to work alongside this incredible team of individuals and hear their stories!

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Thank you to Margaret Godfrey. She taught the class: Playing with Nature's Patterns, which I had the great opportunity of taking! She let us explore our own ways of seeing the patterns that surround us on this beautiful Earth. Looking at the small spotted spores on the back of the ferns leaves or at the inner parts of a flower realizing all that has to occur in order for reproduction and growth to occur for that one colorful tulip - it is in actively seeing the small details that has helped broadened my horizon. This class is where the Great Horned Owl was drawn - and boy has it brought me on a journey I didn't even see coming. Thank you, Magaret Godfrey. 

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I want to say thank you to Patricia Schmidt who taught the class: Seeking History in the Stones: Sketching Irish Castles. Here Patricia taught sketching and shading skills with pen and ink which brough a flat 2D drawing to life! Alongside these techniques, she told us of the history that lays within the Irish buildings we were drawing on. Everything has a history and story, and it was fantastic to hear how these building were created. Thank you to all the instructors who teach their skills and talents, which is turn inspires and awakens their students! 

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This thank you holds the love of a lifetime. Thank you to my most amazing, spectacular Mom and best friend - Melissa Forbes. Words truly cannot express how much you mean to me. You have freed a Spirit through always believing, supporting and giving me the space to fly. Thank you for always being a solid and sure source of guidance and light. For building a home where us 3 girls could always feel safe. Thank you to my 2 beautiful sisters, Kenzie and Megan, for being the very best examples I get the blessing to look up to in this life. I am beyond grateful for my family and feel very blessed in saying that. 

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I want to thank Our Collective Mother, this awe-inspiring Earth. It is through Her that we are able to breath each day, through the fresh air in which the seas and trees produce. We are able to reflect on our inner power and guide when looking out onto the still waters or witnessing a wild and windy storm. She is the ultimate source and resource, and we are all responsible for taking care of Her and each other. I sure do love this Earth and all the beauty that lives within. 

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We each have our personally created Refuge with a community that is there to support, inspire, and help - sometimes literal family and/or the family you have chosen. If that community hasn't come to fruition yet or is still in the making, I would love to become a member of your Pack!

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"We all have a longing that we feel for our own kind, our wild kind" (Estes pg. 187).

Women Who Run With the Wolves

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. What WildLife Refuge will you build? What Wild will you surround your Self with? The most important being the Wild within your Being and a remembering of who you really are.