Chapter 1

There is a forest by the river that flows from Freya’s City toward Yggdrasil, which you may know as the Tree of Life. On the banks of this river is a encampment of glowing egg-shaped tents, in which the Travelling Souls - those of are sojourning upon the Earth for a time - come to rest each night in complete protection, while their bodies remain here on the earth.

But I am getting ahead of myself, for my story does not start here. It starts in a favorite place in my last home: Mark’s leather chair. I am wearing my favorite things: fuzzy socks, my red heart pajamas, and Mark’s big green bathrobe. I hear the dogs start to stir: Brewer moves in a restless circle, and Bea growls as she stares at the door.

I recognize the brown truck delivery truck just outside my window: UPS. I jump up excitedly, because I know this is the delivery I have been waiting for.

“Package for Tara Browne?”

“Yes, that’s me!” I reply, my eyes riveted to the small cardboard box he holds under his left arm.

“Ma’am if you could just sign here...” he says, extending a digital signature tablet for me to use. I blush and realize I am being rudely inattentive.

“I’m sorry,” I say, meeting his eyes as I reach for the device.

“No worries, ma’am - happens all the time.” he responded, and smiled as he handed me my little box and reached out to take back his device.

That’s when I noticed the lettering on the tablet: Universal Parcel Service?! This was no ordinary delivery, no common messenger. I felt a sense of recognition as I took the box, as if I had been waiting for it not just for days, but indeed for all my life.

I returned the box with a smile and a heartfelt, “Thank You!”

“My pleasure, ma’am.” he said, that same smile lighting his eyes, and was gone.

Not down the path and away in his truck, but vanished in that twinkle of his eye, truck and all.