My mother grew up in a two-bedroom home in middle America—Boise, Idaho. She had a traditional family that included her mother, father, and a sister who was three years younger. For those reading my story, it might be hard to imagine why an entire family would move to a Commune in California. Let’s start at the beginning. It was a cold, Sunday morning in Boise, Idaho in 1953, and like most Sundays, my mother and grandmother headed to church services at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel. The family church affiliation is Church of Religious Science, which they dearly loved, and they sat in their usual hardback chairs. While talking before the service started, they noticed a visitor who had just walked in. It was rare that out of towners attended their