Spring Barter Faire : Alyssa and Kindheart

It was spring again. Up north, living the way I was, you become very in tune with the seasons. It was spring, and I was getting kind of lonely now, living way back there by myself. It was nice for a while, but I was starting to want some company.

Back in those days, we had lots of Barter Faires, in places other than the Okanogan too. We had Spring Barter Faires too. They are probably designed just for this. Social interaction, after a long winter. I headed out to the Northport Barter Faire. Northport Washington, is on the Columbia River about 3 hours east of Tonasket. It is on the Canadian Border.

While I was wandering around the faire, I started talking to a woman sitting at a little table. It was one of those instant connections, where you meet and the next second you are best friends. At least that happens to me sometimes. She said her name was Alyssa. I told her that I had spent the winter by myself in a cabin and was feeling kind of lonely. She says right and there, you should come stay with me and my boyfriend for awhile. He should be right back. Then he shows up. His name was Kindheart.

Now this is getting more cosmic. This may be hard to follow. I knew her boyfriend, not well, but I had met him a number of times. The first time was in my house in Oregon, when him and his wife, and their kids were living in my living room for a while. The second time was at a Rainbow Gathering in California, in a circle of like 1000 people, I was holding his hand. The third time was the first day I arrived at the land in the Okanogan, he was there, living there with his wife. I met him 3 times in three different states. Now here he is again. I just turned instant best friends with his girlfriend. The coincidences get even bigger later, but I won't tell it now, or I'll ruin the story.

Well anyway, Alyssa and I hung out together the whole barter faire. It turned out they lived nearby in Northport. I went to visit them a few weeks later, and ended up never going home. I stayed and lived with them for the entire summer. I still had my cabin, I just wasn't there. Like I had done before, I used my van as my bedroom. The three of us were together basically all the time. I was right about us being instant best friends.

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