“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” — Michael J. Fox
I’ve been asked many times during my life if I grew up in a military family. No, but I’ve moved with my family and by myself to at least 20 different homes. I attended 11 schools from kindergarten to college. Just in the last five years I’ve moved twice. This month will be the third.
Last Christmas it was hard making the drive back to the Twin Cities after visiting my family in St. Joseph, Mo., about 50 miles north of Kansas City. It seemed like I didn’t have enough time with my loved ones. Even though leaving them was not something new — my wife and I have been trekking back and forth from the Twin Cities to Missouri for the past 20 years — it was particularly hard saying goodbye, particularly to my younger sister Shawn.
Shawn, who is developmentally disabled and lives in a group home, visits my mom every other week, but I only see her three or four times a year. She is near and dear to my heart, and the opportunity to see her twice a month — or more often if I drive up to see her — elicits tears of joy.
And so, after the drive back north from our Christmas trip last year, we made a decision to switch things up, to move to Missouri and make periodic trips back to the Cities — so I can take part in business meetings in person and my wife can maintain her Reiki practice connections. My business partner, Cathy, will continue to oversee The Edge from her Anoka-area office.
Fortunately, I can successfully steer The Edge’s production from afar, needing only a phone, computer and an internet connection to make the magic happen. So when I get settled this month in our duplex — as close as I could possibly be to family, adjoining my mom and step-father’s house — I will be back at work putting together this publication’s 271st edition for August.
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” –Walt Disney
Back in the fall of 1995, when I interviewed for the position of managing editor of The Edge, I shared with Gary Beckman the idea of expanding the publication to Kansas City, and the following July, we launched the Kansas City edition. While the project only lasted a couple of years, the idea has never left my mind.
What I plan to create soon is an expansion of The Edge’s impact on people’s lives by bridging the Upper Midwest with the Heartland.
I envision special pages on our website that will offer networking and other bridge-building for holistic and spiritual communities in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. Our current geographic footprint will not be ignored, as there is much more we can offer to our friends in Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota, not to mention outstate Minnesota.
Our opportunities are infinite. It’s our privilege, as caretakers of this publication, to continue serving those who find value in what we offer. Whether I am in Woodbury, as I am now writing this, or in Timbuktu, The Edge will continue to inspire and support you on your journey.
“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”
— JRR Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings
It’s not where we are, but who we are when we’re there.
John Francis Schulte, a powerful and pure channel for the Ascended Masters and the Spiritual Hierarchy, speaking at a past walk-in conference in Glastonbury, England, said that wherever we walk, we leave imprints of our energy behind for others. We also receive energy from those who have come before us.
So when we wander here and there — as we continue etching our unique signature on this fabric of life — may we connect with the ancient energies of the earth and the imprints from those who have walked our steps. And may we heed the call of our soul in the process.
