Good morning, I sing the river song as my Nana is in the hospital. It’s almost the first day of winter, and our waterways have slowed, as much in life edges towards hibernation. I ask that we receive the necessary nourishment in order to maintain health and consciousness.
I send my mysterious manner out to the world, with bright open Willingness. I sense the light even when I cannot see, I hear the music rustling the trees, and smell the air’s crisp transitioning breeze. Taste our root vegetables and live on.

My nana, Evelyn Louise Strait was born to Anna Mae Vaughn in Missouri, January of 1926. The family farmed until Anna Mae’s sister died in a hurricane, and they moved to Idaho, continuing to farm. My Nana tells the story (as well as preaches its benefit) of having to walk everywhere. School, grocer, work, and how that lifestyle monuments her strategy for survival. Her two legs are capable and strong, as a native woman of this land. Able to till, sow and reap, creating birth even while she sleeps. If you met Nana, you would be amazed, she has survived cancer three times, back/surgeries galore, and outlived two husbands. She gives gratitude to Walking.
And so, I generate energy with my legs, in the name of my twin soul, Evelyn Louise Strait/DiMario/VanHorn.


A Navajo Prayer

With Beauty beside me I walk.
With Beauty behind me I walk.
With Beauty before me I walk.
With Beauty inside me I walk.
It is finished in Beauty.