Some journeys are taken with your feet, others with your heart. Ours was both.On a recent pilgrimage to Granite Island, Carrie, Anna, and I set out with a quiet hope—to heal the wounds left behind by the violent, unresolved loss of our island sister, Melinda. We weren’t seeking answers, exactly. We were seeking connection, meaning, maybe even a sign that …
Cold Case Journey – Part Three
Carrie had disappeared from sight, rounding the curve of Skipper Creek inlet behind a sand island thick with mangroves. This mound of sand and greenery sat right in the middle of the freshwater stream flowing down from Skipper Creek. Nearby, a tall paperbark tree provided a small patch of shade for us. The locals had told us that, just a …
Cold Case Journey – Part Two
As Carrie, Anna, and I walked toward the foreshore of Scotsman’s Bay, the shade from the enormous Moreton Bay Fig trees was a welcome relief. The late morning sun in the tropics was becoming uncomfortably warm for us southerners. Beneath the cool, dark green canopy of the second fig tree, I noticed a strategically placed information plaque. Grateful for a …
Cold Case Journey – Part One
Carrie and I had never set foot near Skipper Creek again after Melinda lost her life there forty-one years ago. We had talked about going many times—to sit, to meditate—but we never made it. I think we were always too sickened by the trauma of her murder, the legal case that followed, and the acquittal. Avoidance became a self-preservation tactic, …
Keep Digging! Part One
What really happened in 1984? What was the true story behind my friend Mel’s sudden and tragic death? In Chapter 15 of my book Spirit Being Human – Discovering Resilience After Trauma (2023), I share the shock and horror of this trauma. My next book will delve deeper into what happened, but the third book—still unwritten—I hope will finally reveal …