His Spirit Still Speaks

Almost six years after Graham’s transition to spirit, I am still amazed by the synchronicities that unfold.

During the unimaginable search, I could feel that Graham was doing everything he could, from spirit, to help us find him in the frozen lake where he had fallen. He had already come through psychic mediums Kelle Sutliff and William Stillman, to whom I had desperately, and skeptically, turned for help, in ways that felt undeniable to me.

Then, on the morning of the second public search, my dear friend’s daughter had a dream that Graham had cut his finger while carving on a tree. 

Why did she want to share that dream? I wondered at the time.

That very day, we found Graham’s name carved into a tree right next to the lake at Blue Heron Park, where we ultimately found his body. Jess, my co-facilitator for our Sacred Journey With Grief Retreat, had felt strongly led to go down to that cottonwood tree near the lake, for no reason she could define.

Looking back, I believe Graham was doing all he could to lead us to that lake.

Later that day, my friend Marianne asked me to kneel in front of his name. “This is where your son would have knelt to carve his name,” she said with conviction. I knelt in that spot, tracing his name with my right hand while resting my left hand against the tree above it.

Almost six years later, I felt called to revisit the autopsy report.

Was there evidence of a cut?

At a recent IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies) gathering, a research professor from the University of Virginia had explained that a physical finding like this might qualify as a “verifiable” sign of an ADC (After-Death Communication). Mostly, though, I was simply curious.

Indeed, there it was in the report: “A superficial laceration over the knuckle of the left 3rd finger.”

I remembered how I had placed my hands against the tree, imagining Graham in that same position. The report described a cut in precisely the place where his finger might have been injured had his carving tool slipped.

The awe continues. I have no doubt that Graham was coming into dreams, reaching out to anyone who would listen, trying to help us find him.

His spirit still speaks. And I do my best to listen.

The inspiration—a download, really—that came to me in the summer of 2025 to create Mindful Metamorphoses and offer our Sacred Journey With Grief Retreat was one more way I felt my son speaking to me.

The idea for the retreat came to me in its entirety: the format, the alignment of the stages of metamorphosis with the Conscious Grieving™ orientations, the themes for each day, the modalities we would offer, the location—every detail. And quite honestly, my ideas alone are simply not that well-defined.

The inspiration came during my own IADC (Induced After-Death Communication) training. I had just witnessed the profound insights that emerged for participants. And when I experienced my own, it became clear that this work needed to be part of our retreat. Human Design sessions, yoga, ceremony, and ritual would also be key components.

It was clear to me that we needed to offer space for more than cognitive and emotional experiences—but for somatic and spiritual experiences, too. By spiritual, we mean connection with that which each person considers sacred. It is a uniquely personal definition and experience, and we wanted to create space for whatever that might mean to each participant.

And the rainforest at Chaa Creek in Belize? I knew immediately that It was the perfect setting.

What we experienced, and what we witnessed at our 2026 retreat, was so powerful that it affirmed my sense that saying yes to that inspiration was the right thing to do.

And now, in alignment with that calling, we are excited to offer our Sacred Journey With Grief Retreat again, February 21–28, 2027.

If you feel called, even if you have only the slightest inkling, please reach out to schedule a discovery call. I have come to believe that every connection is divinely orchestrated.

You can also experience a taste of this work at Grief Is the Human Veil, Part 2: Going Within the Chrysalis, on Sunday, December 13, from 12:30–2:30 p.m. at Una Vida. We aim to offer a meaningful experience, especially at this tender time around the holidays. Please join us if you can!

Lastly, if you feel a nudge to share this newsletter with someone, follow your instincts. I believe spirit speaks to us through our intuition, and so often we don’t listen. Yet I bet each of you can name times when you did listen—and were glad you did.