I’ve come to take Joseph Campbell’s idea about animals very seriously in recent years – often they come to us as magical helpers, guiding us out of the darkness or simply to the next place in our lives. Today, I realized that Frieda is our Magical Helper when it comes to selling our farm, finding a New Bedlam Farm and moving there. Frieda symbolizes the drama of change. She was a junkyard guard dog in South Glens Falls, was abandoned in the Adirondacks, lived in the wild, was adopted by Maria and  moved with her several times, and then came to Bedlam Farm. She has survived great adversity. She understands the spirit and challenge of moving from one place to another and is an almost mythically adaptable creature. She is my writing dog, and she guards me when I work. And I feel safe.

She is a Magical Helper for sure. Orson inspired me to find Bedlam Farm, Rose helped me to live here, Lenore opened my heart and Izzy reconnected me to people with his Hospice work (p.s. The Hospice Journal is going back up on the blog soon, and will appear on the “Blogs I Love” page). Maria loves the idea of Frieda as our moving spirit. She will help us get where we need to go.

Frieda loves taking care of us, and I am in awe of the power of animals to transform the lives of humans and lead them where they need to go. I have seen it, time and again.