A Land Called Terra

The land is idyllic; a peaceful refuge tucked away in a growing city of 70,000 people.  We call this piece of property Terra which means “earth.”  It also happens to be the same name as the property in Gone with the Wind (different spelling: Tara) that Scarlett O’Hara tried desperately to save following the Civil War.  There is an odd eeriness in similarity to our current world situation.  We can all feel the strains of the world showing their hairline fractures that could very soon be fully broken.  We are all witnessing friends and families being subtly fractured ever so slightly from varying perspectives regarding the climate of the world in general.

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In some ways it feels like Adi and I have taken on the roles of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara minus the, “Frankly Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.”  It’s strange to say that I actually do give a damn about Terra and I’m not even entirely sure why.  The land is beautiful, but it needs a lot of work and upkeep to make it truly thrive once again—and frankly, I’m not sure Adi and I have it in us to make it thrive.  We talk about what this piece of property could become: a healing center; a spiritual retreat where like-minded people could come to share their spiritual journey together; a comprehensive mind, body, and soul rejuvenation center.  I like to call it an Underground Spiritual Railroad that is an urban oasis for those seeking for deeper meaning out of life.  These are all of the ideas that Adi and I know will take a village to make happen.  We are cautiously hopeful yet realistically pessimistic.

Terra, Throughout the Years

Whenever the burden of building and maintaining this center drift into my mind I think about the history of the property.  Adi’s great-grandfather, Simon Cannon, bought this land in the 1950s and owned several hundred acres in a town that was mostly a rural farming community.  As the city began developing around the land, Simon slowly began selling off the property and leaving the money to his children.

Adi’s grandmother, Doris (Cannon) Carter, took her inheritance and created a daycare center, one of the very first of its kind in Mansfield, that helped underprivileged people have a space to bring their children as they worked lower paying jobs to help support their families.  Oftentimes, Doris looked the other way when it came to charging some families that simply couldn’t make ends meet.  She invented “scholarships” for those families with the greatest struggles, seldom looking for accolades while doing most of this work in quiet anonymity.

She founded the daycare on the land in 1969 at a time when very few women were running businesses and eventually she passed it along to her daughter, Sheri, who took the baton of Carter Day Care; together they made it thrive uninterrupted for 50 years before finally closing in 2019.  The children’s lives that were positively influenced are too numerous to mention yet their legacy lives on energetically on Terra.

In the 1990s, the last large swath of land was sold to developers that soon began building half-million dollar homes replete with a golf course dropped right smack in the middle of the development.  In honor of the family, the street passing through the community was called Cannon Drive.  Adi’s family still maintains five acres of Simon’s property and call Cannon Drive their address.

Now, the time has come for the baton to be passed again.  Simon began this race, Doris and Sheri continued it, while the legacy is waiting to be advanced by the next generation.  Adi is reaching behind her to grab the baton and take it forward into a new generation of healing.  Her mother and grandmother changed the lives of children; Adi’s hope is to create a place where she can help people develop their spiritual potential and optimize their physical and mental health.  It is a dream waiting to manifest and I can feel Simon cheer us on from the Great Beyond.

I can sense his spiritual presence whenever I am outside tidying up the land.  A persistent message comes in the silence whenever I am present enough to hear it: “If you build it, they will come.”  This phrase always strikes me because it comes from the movie Field of Dreams which has a special place in my heart.  Field of Dreams was shot just outside of my birthplace, Dubuque, Iowa, in a small little farming town called Dyersville.  I remember when the film was being shot at the time because it was the talk of Iowa—a big Hollywood production with Kevin Costner had rolled into town and had made Dyersville the most happening spot in the state for a brief period of time.  I grew up in a farm community and now 25 years later I was right back where I had started, this time with Simon whispering inspiration to me to turn Terra into our very own field of dreams.

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There are times where I feel like Kevin Costner’s character, clearing the land and pouring my heart into something that I’m not even sure will become a reality.  Even if it does, will people come to our spiritual field of dreams?  I know the world needs this.  This project has the feel of Noah building the ark—he didn’t know why he was doing it, but he felt compelled to keep moving forward.  It wasn’t until the flood came that all of his work began making sense.

When Adi and I first moved back to Terra, I discovered a corner of the land that had a lot of rubbish and trash around it.  There was some old fencing that was discarded, a grill that was no longer in use, tree limbs and other things that had piled up leaving a lot of old dense energy trapped in this wonderful space.  Together, as a family project we began cleaning up the spot, burning the wood that was trapped there and taking all of the trash to the dump to bring life to this little spot on the land.

I plan to make this the very first seating area of our new project.  I am building this space in honor of Simon who had the foresight to begin this project in earnest so many years ago.  We will make a quiet space on the land where people can go to meditate and drink in the wisdom of the trees, birds, squirrels, rabbits, and the other forms of nature that surround the land.  We are dedicating this space to him.  We are calling it Simon’s Quiet Corner.  I plan to make a sign that reads:  Simon says, “All answers come in silence.”  This is how we choose to honor his legacy for beginning this project.

All of this is going to require somewhat of a miracle.  We need a lot of things to come together in order to realize this dream.  Not only do we need to generate the financial resources to make this rather big dream become a reality, we also need like-minded souls to join us on this journey.  We need architects and designers to develop the land; carpenters and skilled workers to make those designs a reality; like-minded Spiritual Warriors to elevate the property energetically; and of course, we need the Source to provide the necessary resources to make all of this happen.

Is it possible?  Yes, anything and everything is possible.  We have set our intention and have fueled it with the belief that this is what the world needs now more than ever—an Underground Spiritual Railroad called Terra that believes in unity over separation, love over fear, focusing on vibrant health as opposed to contagious sickness, and empowering those that come to the land to become the very best version of themselves.  Then, we shall deliver our goodness to the world and create the healing that is possible if we only believe in ourselves once again.

We are building the ark.  We are constructing the field of dreams.  We are joining together to save Terra.  We are looking for all of you to join us.

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