Amazons

 

We all need guidance, support, and mentorship to help us find our next step along journey.  These gifts of guidance often come unexpectedly and unbidden at just the right time when they are needed.  The short-time I spent among the amazon women stands out as one such moment in my young life, a gift from the universe to support me in my quest to be more myself.

 

The summer after my first year in college, I worked for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School off the coast of Rockland, Maine where students of all ages came for 5, 10, 30-day courses in outdoor survival skills and seacraft.  I worked in “logistics” repairing the outdoor equipment, clothing, and boots that the students used in their courses.  It was there I met an amazing group of strong women who awed me with their skills, courage, and confidence. I had never met such strong women before, bodies made muscular through sailing, running, swimming, chopping wood. They were wild like mountains, fully embodied, authentically beautiful, and wholly unconcerned about fitting in with the oppressive standards of feminine beauty of the day. To be with them felt tribal, a homecoming into belonging. They helped to feel myself as strong, beautiful, and capable, something I sorely needed.

 

My life changed after that summer with the Amazons.  I ended up leaving college in Maine, biking across the country, and taking a month-long mountaineering course in the Pacific Northwest where I enrolled at the Evergreen State College. While at Evergreen, I climbed more mountains, ran a marathon, and studied political economy, the field I eventually earned a Ph.D. in and have worked in for most of my career. 

 

The Amazons got me started on the path I needed to be on to grow, a most special gift from the universe.