Full disclosure

I want to be very clear about this particular Liminal piece: mushrooms have been a big part of my life. One of my great-grandfathers grew up in the Russian steppe forests, where he learned mushroom hunting. He was quite good and extremely reliable. If you’re not, people get sick and die. I wish I had listened to him more carefully when I was a young boy and learned what I could during those summer visits when we’d go on our short walks.

Aside from a strong family connection to the world of fungi, I also just really like them. From using them in cooking to learning sacred Golden Teacher lessons, I’ve basically had mushrooms in my life in some shape or form. Mushrooms were one of the first objects I learned to draw. My sketchbooks are filled with mushroom doodles all the way from grade school to university to very serious and professional meetings.

There’s a poster hanging in our living room adorned with mushroom sketches and their species names. Above our bed we have mushroom decorations. In my office there are several mushroom-related items, including a little hardened Play-Doh mushroom figurine that my oldest boy made for me.

I like mushrooms. Could it be my familiarity and fondness for fungi that prompted the viewing of this Liminal? Maybe. Was I preoccupied with mushrooms around the time I saw this Liminal? No. Despite all of this, I don’t actively think about them. Could it have been a friendly way of reaching me? Possibly. The strongest connection to mushrooms that I have is to my great-grandfather. Will we ever know? I’d like to, but I’m not going to spend too much time speculating about it.