I’m meeting Kathy Eldon today and, hopefully, daughter Amy, too. Working now on my interview questions, I’m trying not to weave too much of myself into the questions about her memoir ‘In the Heart of Life’. There is no attempt at objectivity as a journalist, because Kathy and I believe we are soul sisters from way back in human consciousness.

The intersections of our lives — and my making her dead son Dan my personal muse — are very dramatic. Reading each page was often a re-entry into days of my own life. Like: OMG!!! I was hospitalized for the same bizarre illness. Or — wow, I was in London that day, too, also flying there two days after Princess Diana died.

Still, ‘In the Heart of Life’ is Kathy’s story and I want to explore her thoughts beyond the usual book interview topics. Kathy promised a deeply personal, ‘shocking’ read — and it was. Talk about coming clean and establishing your own identity beyond that of the grieving mother whose son was killed in Somalia!!! Kathy has opened up every door in her most interesting and sometimes controversial past.

In her revelations is a transformational story for everyone — and especially women.

I believe this day is very important for my own personal journey. Is it destiny? I have no idea about these matters and am too busy to figure them out. I’ll just go with the flow, one that takes me today directly into Africa’s Heart of Lightness and the beginning of human civilization.

Lake Turkana — home of the Omo Valley people who inspire my own artistry now; the famed anthropologists Louis & Mary Leakey and family whose anthropological discoveries in East Africa remain unchallenged 60 years later; Kathy’s work on the documentary ‘Lost in Africa’ — focused on elephant poaching — are our topics today. The golden egg of the Eldon family story shares the essence of all that matters to me. It should be an interesting day as I just “hang out with her tribe”, as Kathy puts it. ~ Anne