I’m a mom of two, and a grandma of four. My jobs have ranged from post-conviction death penalty defense attorney to bartender. From substitute teacher to dog-walker. From mixed-media artist selling my greeting cards up and down the West Coast to six years of writing as solo nomad between California and Croatia.

There have been so many, many conversations. With so many people. Of such different kinds. And under so many different circumstances.

My very favorite conversations are the ephemeral and profound ones we sometimes have with “strangers” when we travel—across oceans, or across the street. Those serendipitous times when, as we’re waiting for a train, or for our coffee, someone strikes up a conversation and immediately and actually “gets” us. Who we are, what we’re trying to say, what we need or wish for, what we’re struggling with. Those times when a kind, open-hearted soul—and one that has no stake in, or expectations of, or already-established roles with us—simply and spontaneously offers their presence and witness, and reflects back to us what they hear shining through.

I’d like to provide that opportunity to you. Life being what it is, over the phone instead of in line for coffee or on the afternoon ferry to an island in the Adriatic Sea. And, if you’d like, I’ll follow-up afterward by sending you a small drawing and short poem inspired by the magic of whatever you shared.