ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

By nature, I’m a writer. Currently, I’m writing memoir.

 

My childhood was difficult and exactly what it needed to be to form me into the person I have become and do the work that is mine to do.

 

I’ve had overlapping careers in nursing, body-mind integration/counseling/healing and teaching of spiritual practices.

 

Concurrently with my careers, I’ve been and still am my disabled sister’s guardian and an advocate for others with intellectual developmental disabilities. I remember my sister’s childhood much better than my own: her determination and struggles to master basic skills and our celebrations when she succeeded. I’ve also seen travesty and tragedy in her life and mine.

 

I’ve witnessed the transformation of Fircrest School, where she lives, from when it was an “institution,” in the worst sense of the word, to its current status as an excellent, campus-based, full service, therapeutic community.  I hold in my memory much of the history of the movement to move such places forward and to protect and sustain them.

 

My ongoing advocacy for my sister and others is the arena of my greatest challenge, my personal proving ground for practicing the wisdom and values expressed in my insights and poems. 

 

I care deeply about humanity, animals, nature and our environment.

 

Having had the pleasure of traveling and living in foreign countries, today, my Seattle home and gardens are my favorite places to be.

 

I am blessed and sustained by Love: Soul, family, friends and  pets.

 

In gratitude,

Saskia