Today is the birthday of one of the few people who can say she personally met Chile's former dictator President, Augusto Pinochet. I had to go back in time to see her do that but when you're dream traveling, time is no object. Her grandmother used to call her Feather because she'd never heard of a baby being named Heather before, but in the years since, there have been a lot of Heathers named, so her parents must've gotten it right.
At the age of 16, while a foreign exchange student in Chile, South America, Heather wrote a personal letter to Chile's leader innocently telling him that "Americans would probably like him a lot better if he acted nicer" and stopped kidnapping people. Fortunately, when Pinochet received that letter, he was charmed. Here was a little exchange student who really thought she might change change the world. Of course, Heather had no idea just how dangerous he was so when Pinochet sent his henchmen to the little villiage of LLay LLay (means wind, wind), to pick her up, she was delighted. Her "host mother" was forbidden to go. That young girl was spirited away to the Presidential Palace with barely enough time to grab her boyfriend's leather jacket and say good-bye.
That's when I got the message that I needed to be there to make sure she was okay. Perhaps because her birthday is today -- sometimes special days get mixed up in my "dream" wiring -- that while Sage slept, I transported to the palace. There she was. beautiful young, strong, humorous Heather, walking down that long hall toward the inner sanctum of one of the baddest dictators in the world. And by this time, she got that she was completely vulnerable.
I wish I could say that I rescued her and got her home safely, but to tell the truth, she did it all on her own. I was her witness. I can only say that the next morning before I had to return to my safe home, in the States, the newspapers already had her phot splashed all over the Chilean news! Happy birthday, Heather, so glad you're on our side!
