This week I would like to introduce you to my island.

Her name is Raspberry, and she is a force of Nature. For real. And, of course, it’s kind of silly to even call her “mine.” Who can own the earth?

Ms. Raspberry most certainly does not view me as her owner. But she’s down with partnering with me on some projects for a while. With my husband and me, but me especially at the moment, it seems.

Anyway…

She’s the kind of Being that always has a bit of a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Like she knows she’s about to rope you into something you think you don’t want to do, but her enthusiasm and delight in it all are so contagious that before you know it, you’re all in.

Not without your consent, of course. She’s all about true power, power WITH, not power over.

But it’s power for sure. Like an incredibly powerful magnet. Like a storm. Like women’s sexuality. And also like the power that a perfectly ripe wild raspberry has to infuse pleasure, peace, and presence through every cell in your body.

Just a little less than a year ago, Ms. Raspberry Island decided it was time for me to return to her and the lands where my family’s roots have been for the last few generations. The grounds of the East Coast and especially upstate New York. So, she sent this surge of knowing energy through my body when I opened an email from my dad saying she was for sale.

To be honest, I’m pretty sure she’s in cahoots with my Aunt Sallie, who died of a heart attack in 2009 at the age of 64, with a heart that her doctors had described as being more typical for someone in their 80s. Lots of sorrow that heart held. And also lots of care and generosity. Many human and animal lives were loved and nurtured because of Aunt Sallie.

Anyway, back to my introduction to Ms. Raspberry, or perhaps I should call her Rebel Raspberry because she is somewhat rebellious, in a delightfully playful way. Not unlike my sister, who was initially going to buy her with me and is 99% responsible for the fact that she’s ready for use this summer. She knows how to make a space beautiful like nobody’s business. And people too. She makes people attractive in ways that are true to them, not anyone else’s formula. And she always was the one who was willing to take the punishment she’d get for crossing the line of delight and curiosity - while I stayed safely behind it. Judging her and wishing I could be her at the same time. That’s the kind of rebellious Ms. Raspberry is too.

Ms. Raspberry, for example, seems to think that I am someone who will delight in the challenges of living for several weeks or months in a place with no running water or electricity – and perhaps also without a motorboat. She (along with my friend Alisa who is a sacred-hearted rebel herself) also thinks I will enjoy the crazy adventure of ROWING or PADDLING over to her in a few weeks. And very likely freezing my behind off since May in upstate New York is not known for balmy tropical temperatures! We will be able to bring our blessings and gratitude, anointing her to be a place of healing – as she has already been in so many ways.

Ms. Raspberry the Rebellious thinks that my good girl inner child, who always followed the rules and was shy and scared more often than brave and confident, deserves this adventure. And I must admit, when I check in with that inner child part of me, she is delighted. BUT THAT IS BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T HAVE TO DO ALL THE SCARY GROWN-UP THINGS LIKE FIGURE OUT HOW TO DOCK A BOAT IN THE WIND, OR HOW TO FIX UP SPACE FOR ME SO I CAN WRITE BOOKS AND EARN MONEY, OR HOW TO CO-EXIST WITH WASPS AND SNAKES AND SUCH THINGS. It’s the grown-up me that has to do all that.

My fears do not phase Ms. Raspberry. She seems to know that she has just the medicine I need to be restored and replenished and prepared for what’s next – after decades of living inside structures and systems that are much, much less wild than she is.

And perhaps much less wild than I am meant to be.

I’m curious to hear what you think of her and her plans. Is she magnetizing you towards her wild, rebellious, playful, healing medicine too?

Do tell!

Here’s to thriving and equity, healing and rebellion against rules that just don’t work,

Deb