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The women would remain in this place, until all of the women in their line had come to join them. Then it would remain to be seen what would happen next There would be decisions to be made, would they stay together, would they separate their paths. Would they decide to go back, one by one, or a few at a time. There were so many decisions to be made. But so far in the future that it was not worth the time spent to think on it now. There was LaVerne. And there was pie.

LaVerne was settled in her rocking chair. She neatly tucked her feet up under her, as she had done for nine decades, only ceasing the practice as she became truly old and rarely sat in a chair. She looked at her fingers, still terribly bent from the arthritis that had settled in her joints years and years and years before. Her fingers had no rings. Her nails were slightly ragged, not polished. She bent her fingers. While they looked they same, she could notice the difference. There was no pain, and there was strength there that had been lacking for a long while.

Elizabeth looked at her. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìYou are stronger now than you were before. You will continue to gain strength. Your form will change some. You will be eased your pains. You will look like the woman you were always meant to be.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

Laverne said, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìI always thought I would look young again.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

The women chuckled. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìWe all thought that,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Ellen said. “We all thought we would be young and thin and curved in the right places, with perpetual perfect hair and nails and whatever else we decided were the things wrong with our forms in life would be fixed here. But…. after a while… we each learned that there was never anything wrong with us. Oh, we might have used some more strength here and there, or perhaps our health could have been helped by a few less pounds, but we?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve learned we were each perfect in our own ways, in our own path shaped by the body we inhabited. We were perfect, and so when we came here, we retained our perfection. These are the well earned faces and bodies sitting before you. Rejoice in your form and enjoy your growing strength.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

LaVerne looked at her body, at her crippled foot, she thought of her breast long ago cut away from her body. She thought of bones broken with age, body parts taken out. Uterus and gallbladder. She had longed to be whole.

As if she knew, Abby said, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìYou are whole, dear. The Mother completed you and made you whole when you crossed over.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

LaVerne put her hand to her breast, it was still hollow on her right side, not there, gone.

?¢‚Ǩ?ìI don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t mean physically whole. Well, I do, this is physically whole for you. For you. For the unique and special you that you are, that you were, that you continue to be. You have everything you need, and when you realize that, you will realize you are indeed whole. More whole than you have ever been because you will not be looking to change, You will turn your focus out of you and to the world and the life you live. You will see. Your heart will change as you realize the Mother?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s plans, ” she turned to reach for something, “But here, have some pie.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù