I met Teresa at a low point in my life. It was in December, a week before Christmas. I had recently suspended the publication of NAPRA ReView, let go of almost 30 employees, and given up most of my office space. I was uncertain regarding the future of my 16 year old trade association, and of my next step. I was in a grievous state and wondered how I could continue to reach and serve the publishers, retailers, authors, and others in the industry since I had suspended the publications of our magazine, Winter Solstice Catalog, and the Newsletter. In search of a buyer or investor for NAPRA ReView, I had traveled to southern California to meet with several prospects. At the end of the day I was in the Carlsbad area and had spent over an hour looking for a place to spend the night. There were no vacancies. I went into an empty little restaurant for dinner and was staring at the blinking lights of a Christmas tree, when suddenly I remembered someone telling me that Deepak Chopra had moved his center to the La Costa Resort. Upon inquiry I learned it was only three miles down the road. Within ½ hour I was there, welcomed graciously by the staff, and put into a large, comfortable room with a huge bathtub.

Early the next morning feeling nurtured and refreshed, I went to the Chopra Center to find that Deepak and David Simon were just beginning a special 5 day meditation program. The attendance at this time of the year was small, and I was invited to join the group as a guest participant. The first day Deepak talked to me in front of the group about the demise of NAPRA ReView and all the other publications. He also told the group how his appearance at our first Author’s Breakfast in 1989, and again in 1991 had been pivotal steps for him into the publishing world. He asked me what I needed in order to continue the work I had been doing for over 20 years. I told him NAPRA needed a buyer, and I needed a professionally designed website so I could rebuild the little marketing and consulting company I had before I founded NAPRA. Our group was small and intimate. We shared a lot of life’s challenges with one another. I felt fortunate in my situation when I met and listened to Teresa Caminata tell the story of her battle with terminal cancer. She was not in search of sympathy. She was tough and determined to deal with whatever was before her. She read us her poems. She made us laugh, and she made us cry.

On the third day of the program Teresa came to me and said, “I want to help you. I want to give you a gift so you can carry on your work.” I was quite taken with the intensity of her remark and we sat in the quiet parlour of the Chopra Center under a stunning portrait of Tagore as she expressed her wish to have her friend Joanie Springer design a website for the new company I was starting up. I was speechless. I had just met this woman. She was dying of cancer. In her situation, how could she think of giving a gift to a perfect stranger? As we talked through what this would entail, I was amazed to discover that in this tiny precious woman there was more Light and Life than most people ever experience. She was open and loving and generous. Her concerns were beyond her personal situation, as she pondered how she could participate in helping me continue the work of promoting spiritual growth, conscious living and positive social change.

Without Teresa’s gift, NAPRA would have lost its voice, and I would have been unable to sustain the foundation from which to rebuild and launch my new business. I have no doubt that I was guided that night to the Chopra Center, to Deepak’s workshop, and to Teresa – an Angel in the truest sense.