The Teachers: Andrea Bachle Fisher

Andrea Morgan Bachle Fisher is the woman who volunteered to bear the burden of gestating, birthing, and parenting the bodymind that would become the Drew Fisher vehicle for Journeyman Paul. For eight months and three weeks she carried the forming body inside her before submitting to medical technology’s latest preferred and experimental means to allowing me passage into the world on June 7, 1958, nine hours and fifteen minutes into the day. It just so happened that Andrea ("Andy" she's called) was expected to be the attendant Matron of Honor in her only sister’s glorious wedding at 10:00 AM of the same morning, but she had to pass in lieu of other more pressing engagements. 57 years later, an attitude of placing the needs of her boys first continues to drive "Andy’s" primary motivations. 
     Motherhood and family matriarchy have been a serious business to her. At the same time, she has not been overly doting or controlling; each of her four sons have profited from her guidance and her example but have rarely felt forced or cajoled into any choice or course of action. A devout Roman Catholic, Andy allowed her four boys to choose their own religious paths—even encouraged them to explore and experiment. Herself molded by and comfortable within values and mores of the affluence of the upper echelons of American industrial society, she has understood and allowed, if, at times, disparagingly and reluctantly, her family members to make choices to move in and out of that same social class. She has always wanted the joys and happiness of comfort and choice that her own socioeconomic status has afforded her to be equally available and passed on to her loved ones. Naturally, it frustrates and disappoints her a little bit when her loved ones make choices outside of her own comfort zone. She's a mother. But she is fairly successful at dealing with these disappointments. 

     One of the most remarkable character traits that I have noticed as a consistent, constant in Andy Fisher's walk on planet Earth is in the generosity of her emotional support to others. Andrea has always seemed to have had a very busy social calendar as well as a long line of daily telephone callers—each reaching out to her to share their troubles, to share their family’s bad news, to share their humanity. She has been a confidant, therapist, supporter, source of empathy, consolement and resources to countless people of all ages and this has remained true during all periods of her life. The litany of people who reach out to Andy in times of trouble is astounding in length—and seems to never shrink. Family members, childhood school mates, ex-boyfriends, new friends that she is always seeming to be making, sisters and brothers and lovers and children and grandchildren of friends and family—the net keeps getting larger and wider. When you talk about "six degrees of separation," I think that my mother’s degrees of separation from any person on the planet would be four, or five at the most. She knows somebody who knows somebody who knows something about any topic there is to know. And she is not afraid to use her network. Not for her own benefit, more for information. You see, Andy also has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, understanding, information, the latest news, the latest theories and plots, and she remains open to information from all sides, from all biases, gathering, filtering, and sifting through it all so she can assimilate and accommodate it into her current understanding of the world--which is surprisingly elastic and ever-evolving.

     Another remarkable trait that Andy Fisher has worked with throughout her lifetime from which I have benefitted tremendously through her example is her ability to be flexible, resilient, and detached when faced with adversity or negativity. While not a master of these behaviors, she has worked hard and made great strides in this area. Also, Andy has cultivated a remarkable ability to forgive. Perhaps this is where her ability to rebound from adversity arises. Or perhaps it is from her tireless ability to dive head first into the research necessary to learn about that which confronts her. Or perhaps it is due to her use of various methods which help her to successfully vent, process, or ignore and compartmentalize (suppress) her negative feelings.
     I stand in awe of these gregarious, empathetic, self-corrective talents and skills of Andy Fisher. But I also know that she struggles. I know that the effects of her conditioning--the behaviors ingrained in her from the influence of her family of origin and from her Catholicism and her American post-Depression, Industrial society morals and values--have led Andy to form certain behaviors that have undoubtedly served as major distractions from the growth and progress her Monad put forth in her Soul Plan for this incarnation. I like to think that I, too, have benefitted from these "negative" behaviors. I have been able to learn so much about the choices I do not want to make from watching other people--and perhaps no one more than my mother. It has been very illuminating and helpful for me on my own journey to recognize that my mother's issues are hers, not mine--that she may or may not be successful in dealing with these issues--and that this is okay--it is okay no matter what the outcome. What a powerful, important lesson!
     I have really enjoyed and admired watching my mother's unbound energy and enthusiasm for social interaction. She is fearless of interaction with other humans. This has always seemed so foreign and amazing to me--even something that I have secretly desired. I imagine that it is no small coincidence that uber-social Andy Fisher was contracted to be present in my life since she provides a constant reminder of Journeyman Paul's "learn through social immersion" mission that he placed within my Soul Plan. This is probably one of the reasons that Paul and Andy's monad chose to work together in this lifetime. I wonder what she might have to say about what she's learned from me . . . .