The Greatest Prize
By Zelle Nelson
I first heard the call as I stepped out of the dark light of a movie theater into the first echoes of the setting sun, on a glowing night in Aberdeen, Scotland. My wife, Keegan (most of you know her as Maureen McCarthy - see her story by clicking here), told me of a vision she had just had.
We were in North Carolina, writing the State of Grace Document Book (www.stateofgracedocument.com) and bringing it to the world. "OK, let's go. We need to do it!" I said. - She would say my immediate positive reaction sprung from the fact that I've learned that following her visions leads us down fantastic paths we could never have imagined for ourselves. And that is very true. All the visions we have followed have given and continue to give us gifts we never could have dreamed to ask for.
The reality is that I trust her so deeply, that when I hear the conviction in her voice, and I see the connection in her eyes to something greater than we know, I have no room in my soul for reluctance or trepidation. So for me, following the vision to move to North Carolina was never a matter of if, but only a matter of when and how.
Keegan and I have found that following her visions leads to doors opening and stars shifting to make each vision become reality. Getting us to Scotland was in many ways a precursor to enabling us to take the leap to move to North Carolina. Scotland became a working reality less than 24 hours after that particular vision first arrived. A phone call to a friend in the middle of the night, and a recommendation the next day resulted in an invitation to live and work in Scotland. It wasn't long after we arrived in Scotland that I knew we had landed in a place called home. The mountains, the sky, the sea, the standing stones, the continually shifting weather, the people, the voices of the past, the colors, the seals, and the kilts all made Scotland a home for me.
Funny enough, I had always had a greater affinity for my Swedish roots on my father's side of the family compared to my connection to the Scottish ancestry on my mother's side. My grandparents on Dad's side were from Sweden, I had visited there - it's another country with stunning views of deep blue lakes and thick forests, harbor towns, and farmer's fields, and if you're lucky an occasional moose. - and I had truly fallen in love for the first time there.
Even with the magic that Sweden holds for me, Scotland quickly eclipsed all the nostalgia I had for Sweden. Until reaching the shores of Scotland I didn't give much credence to the matriarchal line, but when I arrived I could feel the connection in my heart and in my bones. Scotland was a place to expand the me I only knew from the inside. The land created a rock and a foundation from which to share my inner brilliance with the outside world. I lived anew in Scotland, and allowed myself to pour out the cries and calls of my soul to the external world. No longer was Keegan the only one I let see my glorious beauty.
It might seem strange that I was so willing to leave the land that had first embraced the full face of me to go to North Carolina, a land I had never known. But as I said, I knew the call was true the moment I heard the words of Keegan's vision. The how of our story is amazing - the only place named when asking friends where to go in North Carolina was Asheville, less than a week back in the States and we hitch a ride with Keegan's Dad to Asheville because he happens to have business in the area, looking at only one house - the most glorious, Scottish-like stone house, down a winding driveway, through the forest. And feeling the energy so strongly of home.
The forests, the seasons, the mountains that seem to fade away to infinity wrapped in the blanket of twilight, the rapid connections with friends who seem as if we've known them forever, the vibrant city nestled in the midst of an abundant wilderness, festival upon festival, art, and music, and stories, and, and, and, and, and, and more - this, to me is Asheville.
I still don't know how everything all fell together to make Keegan's glorious vision a reality, but here we are. And the truth is, I now know I'll always be at home when-ever, how-ever, and where-ever I am as long as Keegan is with me and I am with Keegan
We embody home for each other. I find my home in her and she finds her home in me. We intertwine so densely that I have no idea where I end and she begins. When I just experience us, the illusion of any division between us dissolves into the mist of legends and fairy tales. For it is in these legends and fairy tales, that we tell the story of the hero going alone, facing the dragon, and winning the greatest prize in all the kingdom. I don't think I had truly known my home is ultimately with Keegan, as she and I become we, until Asheville called us home. When I realize the home I have found, or perhaps simply remembered in her, I know that I need go nowhere to revel in the greatest prize in all the kingdoms and queendoms that there ever were or will be.
Sweden was a homeland. Scotland was a homecoming and a coming out. Asheville has been a celebration and a sanctuary - a deepening into life, love, and happiness with no cessation in sight.
Thank you Asheville for being the nest from which we have become one and from which we will fly.
As you know by being on this site, Maureen and I are hosting a World Café conversation called “Asheville Calling…” at the Blue Moon Bakery and Café, in an effort to hold space for your stories. We’d love it if you could join us. Email us your story to post on the web and share at the gathering. (stories@ashevillecalling.com)
Zelle Nelson
Engaging the Soul at Work/Know Place Like Home/State of Grace Document
zelle@maureenandzelle.com
office - 828.693.0802
mobile - 847.951.7030
Ravenswood - Isle of Skye
2021 Greenville Hwy
Flat Rock, NC 28731