They have gone away from me now, and yet I am still alive in the dreams I had as a child that showed me isolated, far away from everything except nature and old age.  I am old, and yet I feel my life has compressed like the weft of the pattern pushed tightly against itself for strength and beauty, and to last against use and time.  I wonder, did I send them all away to fulfill my own visions, or were the dreams that danced in my young mind a sign post showing me that I was headed here?  I believe I truly knew, and still I was destined to go through the paces of my life in order to walk my learning.  The lesson strands that I picked up when I began have been replaced in the pattern with strands that I selected and spun on the wheel of my heart. Now is the time for tying all the loose ends; all but one will be finished.  This one will continue and become part of another pattern and another after that, on through the ages it will be given to others as it was given to me.  The variations of color, texture and purpose will only enhance its beauty, for this one is the magic thread, the thread of my life, the lives of those who gave me life, and the one whose life was born through me.