So I waited to read this post, more so that I could savor the flavor and I am so happy I did. Firstly what a wonderful writer you are, I gotta say thank you for continually impressing with quality and finesse. Secondly I appreciate all these insightful responses.
I see shadow as an aspect of greater self. Greater as expansive rather than any better or worse. To be free from my subconscious judgements around duality feels liberating to me. Perhaps "me" as in the perceived separation from primordial existence LOL! You, me, light, dark, good, bad and granny; aren't they all synonymous reflections and projections in the sense that no one exists without the other? From absolute there is no separation, right?
Anyway, not to go too far on an existential tangent. I love the recollection of this story. The vividness of the scenes and the sharpness of the details. What speaks to me is the paradox of how at such an early age we detach from that which we spend a life time reconnecting? To simply be here now.
What I mean to say is perhaps after going the long way round, shadow work exists purely to provide both basis and contrast that helps one feel that this whole thing appears "real". For how else is this life ledger, this genetic block chain of any value to us?
Thanks for sharing your currency, shadows and all. Great read.