I first met Leslie at House in the Woods in Delavan, WI. last March. Each year as the universe awakens from its winter slumber, energy shifts and moves and things begin to happen. The ice cracks in huge riffs on the lake outside, the geese return in large V's, honking and cackling as they set down on the frozen brown earth of the island. Women come together to heal.

Likewise, each March synchronistic, and often-magical events seem to occur in my life. Is it by chance? I doubt it. Last March was no exception. I had heard of Leslie for several years in e-mails and newsletters; in conversation with other women, her name would come up. I was curious. I wanted to meet her but didn't know why.

That Saturday at House in the Woods issues were getting in the way of us being present for the participants, and we were sitting at separate picnic tables in the dining hall, Drinking tea. She looked out of sorts, so I went over and asked her if she'd just been called on her "stuff". Turns out, we both had. We started giggling about "those facilitators".

We haven't stopped talking since. Leslie did her Woman Within initiation weekend in August of 1992, but her “animal” name didn't arrive until she did the Vision Quest
weekend with Joyce Brahm and Char Tosi. "I spent most of the weekend sitting and going inside myself, watching an ant repeatedly try to push a ball of sand up a hill and keep falling backward. I think we always fix on something that speaks to us. That weekend it was the ant and the moon over Lake Michigan.

As I watched the full moon on the shores of Lake Michigan, it resonated with me. "Full Moon over Water" became my animal name."

Like other women who contribute so much to Woman Within, her list of accomplishments is lengthy. In addition to staffing Woman Within, and Vision Quest many times, Leslie also staffs and is on the board of Path to Spirit. In 1995 she used her legal expertise to form Chicago Women in Circle as a non-profit organization. Most recently she has been the MKP Chicago liaison for Woman Within, and the coordinator for Chicago Women in Circle celebrations. "I do Woman Women Within for myself and to do my own work," she said over a glass of red wine at an Irish bar in Chicago recently. "It's about balance, giving back and all of us staying connected as a community."

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Leslie is a successful attorney who lives with a cat in a very old Victorian house in Chicago. In the summer, her shady backyard is full of raspberries, squirrels and tomatoes. She loves to ride her bike along Lake Michigan, gives architectural tours of the city and does yoga several times a week. She's been to Machu Pichu, Japan, the Hawaiian Islands and other exotic locations.

Leslie is one of those rare women I feel like I've known all my life. She's a sister I have been looking for. She is warm, bright, spontaneous, amusing, up on Chicago politics, very huggable and a dear friend. I'm honored to be part of her life and glad she's become part of mine.


Leslie Recht
(WWTW Aug. 1992, Lake Delavan, WI. )
lrecht@defrees.com


Edna B. Wilson,
Heartbeat Roving Reporter
(WWTW March, 1989, Lake Delavan, WI.)