Every so often in this lifetime you stumble across people that you just “click” with. Someone who understands you in a fundamental way, and shares your basic values and views. Broot is such a person for me. Since we (virtually) met, we’ve discovered how similar we are in so many ways that it’s a little unnerving at times. I’ve taken to calling her my “Kiwi Soul Sister” because surely we were separated at birth. If not in this lifetime, a past one without a doubt!

I think she and Thom may share something also, even though they don’t know each other. Both, in their own unique way, have managed to write an entire guest post about the process of writing a guest post ;)

Once upon a time in the land of butterflies there were two grown women. The two grown women were everything you’d want in a friend. Happy, friendly, pleasant to look at, good listeners, ready to drop everything and support you in your hour of need.

Sadly, the land of butterflies covered a vast distance and included a huge ocean. And one grown woman lived on the east coast (ish) of the land of butterflies and the other one lived on an island in the middle of the vast ocean.

The two grown women could only be friends by writing letters on the wind. The wind would fly the letters over the land and ocean and catch them under a rock. Fortunately, the wind was very very fast and their letters arrived at nearly the same time as they were sent. The grown women just had to make sure they checked under the rock to find the messages.

One day, the first grown woman said to herself, “I want all my friends to read the letters that the second grown woman sends me, because I feel happy when I read her letters.”

So she sent a letter to the second grown woman that said “Will you please write a letter that I can share with all my friends?”

Of course, the second grown woman said yes. And all was happy.

But then the second grown woman sat down to write her letter, and a BIG PURPLE DRAGON appeared! The dragon said “I will not let you write your letter until you have sent a whole magazine for layout proofs by the morning! And if you do not, I will eat you up!”

The second grown woman sat at her rock in despair. How could she complete all that work in a single night? Then she heard a sound. A little fairy with bells said “Phone for you, Mummy!” and when the second grown woman answered the phone, it was the White Witch, who offered to help with the magazine. Together, they finished it in the time allotted and the Purple Dragon was satisfied.

The next day, again the second grown woman sat down to write her letter. But the Big Purple Dragon appeared AGAIN! “Ha ha!” he said. “I have turned off the wind. You must get rid of all this paper before the morning! And if you don’t, I will eat you up!”

The second grown woman had no choice but to get rid of the paper, piece by piece, until it was all gone. Well, almost all gone. She hid some, and the Big Purple Dragon didn’t notice.

On the third day, again the second grown woman sat at her rock to write her letter. This time, she saw the Big Purple Dragon before it arrived. She picked up her ukulele and sang a song.

“Hutia te rito o te harakeke/Kea hea ra, te komako, e ko, ko e!”**

The song was really a spell, and it put the Big Purple Dragon to sleep.

While the dragon slept, the second grown woman quickly wrote her letter and sent it to the first grown woman. She did not defeat the dragon, and still had to do work for him when the dragon woke up, but at least now she knew how to make some time for herself. And the wind delivered the letter to the first grown woman’s rock, and she was delighted. And she had the wind send that letter to all her friends so they could read it too, and everyone lived happily ever after.

The End.

** “When the heart is torn from the flax bush where will the Bell bird sing?” part of a proverb in te reo Maori, the indigenous language of New Zealand.

Broot