Meet Kayce a.k.a. Lucy Van Pelt

She identifies with Lucy. Lucy Van Pelt. Yes, that one: Charlie Brown's nemesis.

Not only does she accept being Lucy, older sister of Linus and ReRun; she also claims St. Lucy, Patron Saint of the Blind. She told us the latter on the third Sunday of Advent, when she paid homage to St. Lucy by featuring her own "Tale of Lucy".

She is a gifted writer, a talented artist, a muse who's been influenced by Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.

She is the author of Grace Unbound: New Reflections on an Old Subject, published in November 2008, and featuring work by photographer Bill Hughlett, who also blogs.

She posts her words here and here, on her blogs Diamonds in the Sky With Lucy and Lucy Creates, respectively. In both places, she offers words beautifully put together, sometimes searingly painful words; poetry; visual journals; travelogues; often-extraordinary collages; meditations and reflections.

Who she is, besides being Lucy Van Pelt and St. Lucy, is Kayce S. Hughlett: Passionate Person. Person Who Follows Her Passions. A seeker of the light.

Kayce's a deep reader. You can tell she is by scanning the quotes she sprinkles around. Or by looking at her book lists and the names on the book covers on her virtual bookshelves: Thomas Merton, Barbara Kingsolver, Jodi Picoult, Mary Karr, Joseph Campbell, Malcolm Gladwell, Jhumpa Lahiri, Henri Nouwen, and they're just for starters. Some names you'll recognize and others you won't but check them all the same. There are many writers there you'll want to read, too.

But back to Kayce a.k.a. Lucy 1 and Lucy 2.

A Seattle, Washington, resident, Kayce describes herself as "a woman, a mother, a wife, a sister, an orphan, a friend, a spiritual seeker, a lover of nature, a fan of cozy beds and warm fires. I am a grown person with the heart of a child," she says, adding, for good measure, "I am a romantic and I have my practical side. I experience God outside the box and I love old traditions. I grew up in the Bible Belt (Oklahoma) and relocated 20 years ago to the "most unchurched city in the country", Seattle. My first career was as a posh accountant in a downtown highrise; now I practice psychotherapy in a neighborhood yoga studio. . . I believe life is a journey toward authentic living and discovery of the truth within."

Add to the above Kayce's love of: music—all kinds; rhythm and movement; blogging; movies; Anne Lamott; play time; family; quiet space and solitude. And friends. Lots of them. All loyal. There when she needs them.

Now, go back and read that self-description again. And don't tell me Kayce isn't fascinating!

She's a licensed mental health counselor with a master's degree in counseling psychology and coursework in spiritual formation. (Her business Website is Diamonds in the Soul. She provided a post about the site the other day.) She is a facilitator and volunteer for Soltura Foundation, which specializes in personal growth and health via experiential learning, and an instructor in transformational leadership at Seattle's Recovery Cafe. Clearly, she enjoys learning; she's been awarded a Memoir Writing Certificate from University of Washington Extension, and a Certificate of Completion from "Awakening the Creative Spirit: Training for Spiritual Directors in Expressive Arts". She's also a trained SoulCollage®facilitator. She leads creative retreats and workshops that go by such titles as "Abundance & Thanksgiving", "Serious Soul Play", and "Soul Care Supervision".

I'm still getting to know Kayce by what she reveals online, in her words, through her travels, with her art. I figure I still have a lot left to learn before I can imagine saying I know her, even remotely.

I can say this, however: That quote she includes on her "About Me" page, the one by Madeliene L'Engle — "The deeper and richer a personality is, the more full of paradox and contradiction. It's only a shallow character who offers us no problems of contrast." — that's really about Kayce S. Hughlett a.k.a. Lucy Van Pelt a.k.a. St. Lucy. And she's not just some character.

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At High Calling Blogs, we're celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas with 12 Days of Community by highlighting the blog(s) or Website(s) of people other than ourselves or people we think you should know about. As our friend Glynn says, this is something we should be doing anyway, all the other 353 days of the year.

This is the tenth piece to appear under the 12 Days of Community badge. The others are:

Day 1: "She Looks for Joy in Now"

Day 2: "Landscape Become Image"

Day 3: "She Listens Multidimensionally"

Day 4: "Four Women, No Calling Birds"

Day 5: "Virginia via Idaho via New York City"

Day 6: "nAncY, By Any Other Name"

Day 7: "Roses on Her Dresses"

Day 8: "Ann With No 'e'"

Day 9: "In a Single Field"