Joining Together, Being Together, Celebrating...
Anadi and I headed out of Eastbourne just after 5.30pm yesterday afternoon...
We were excited to be on our way to meet my nephew Jamie who had already arrived at Gatwick, checked himself into the Premier Inn and booked us all in for dinner at 8.30pm...
I texted him to excitedly let him know we on our way, and then turned to Anadi...
'What an amazing and enriching eleven days!'
He agreed...
We have had such a wonderful time, so many special occasions and time with wonderful people...
Jane and I met Simon 9 yers ago, when we were having a writing meeting with our friend Andrew, and Si was managing the 'Real eating Company' where we were holding our 'writing group'. Si has since done a wonderful job editing both 'Running to Learn' and 'Girlfriend for a Year'.
We have made a point ever since of meeting each year, on February 6th - the anniversary - One of us is 'Keeper of the friendship plaque' for the year...
So on Saturday we all met again in 'Ten Green Bottles' and Simon ceremoniously handed it over to Jane, whose care it is now in for the year... As usual we commented on the grammatical error with the omission of the apostrophe!
'Lifes truest happiness is in the friendships we make along the way'
And we also had the yearly picture taken...!
We love our ritual, and now that it has now been unbroken for nine years, we are all resolved to continue it forever...
February 6th is also the anniversary of our mother's passing... Forty years this year...
She gave me life, and my wonderful sister Rosy and I thank her and our father for this with all my heart...
Rosy and I had a chance to meet too, on Tuesday...
We met for breakfast at the Grand, as she was in the area to work...
The time went too fast of course... But she says she likes me being a nomad as we make sure we meet when I am back, and so we might even be seeing more of each other than before I flew off...
The rich tapestry of relationship, love friendship is so evident as we journey. Communication, connection and relating has been a driving force all of my life... Both through the journey of life and this nomadic path, I am discovering that as my connection to myself deepens, paradoxically through shedding and letting go of my attachments, both to things and my inner restrictions....
So the relationships are deepening, blossoming, growing, expanding. I see the truth of love and know that separation is an Illusion, perpetuated by the Illusion we are believing - the reality we see with our eyes, which is created by us.
However hard it may be to believe, we are entirely responsible for the way we see things...
Tuesday afternoon...
In Urban Ground for another book party... I see clearly, as perhaps those who have 'book partied' with me do too, that my book 'Girlfriend for a year' is incidental...
It is something I originally planned to write for me, as I dared to leap again, and embrace another committed relationship, to journey deeper into myself with Anadi.
When I committed to be a Girlfriend for a year, I decided to record 'what happened...' As I wrote I saw that there might be something of value for others in my journey
And so I have offered it out...
But really and truly, the gatherings I have enjoyed with a room full of wonderful amazing souls, has not been about selling my book, although that has been a nice reason to 'throw a party'...
It has been about joining together, being together, celebrating love and connection and honouring that we are all one...
Consciousness... Love expressing itself and experiencing a human journey...
Thursday afternoon...
And now we are in Gozo...
Jamie Anadi and I have travelled here together, already our time together special and memorable, and in half an hour we are off to run together across the cliffs to Hondoc Bay....