Imagine a roomful of girls, women, and elder women – daughters, mothers, grandmothers, 

sisters, aunts, teachers, friends – gathered for a timeless day of connecting, honoring, and celebrating.

Imagine the shyness, the tentative glances, the comparison-makings, the settling down, settling in, the insights,

the laughter, the energy, the gladness!  We have time apart with our own age-groups. We experience a ritual

to joyously welcome each girl through the Gateway. We come together forming three, impelling, concentric circles:

our elders holding the outer circle, our mothers the middle, and our girls, our youth, our future, the center. 

We relax together, telling our stories and crying a little here and there. Finishing up, we put on some groovy music and dance…

Then, smiling, we say our goodbyes, and reflect, ‘This day has been surprising, moving, affirming, and lots of fun. 

Something beyond ourselves, we have honored the wholeness of life.’