Leaving one home for another

I promised to share a bit more about the conference and my trip home, so here goes. I just loved being at the conference (Southeastern Spiritual Conference) and find myself thinking back on it longingly. I already told you about my class, which was the highlight of my week. Janice, from my Recreating Eden Study Group from last winter, came to the conference, and she was my angel, giving me rides to class and meals in her very cool PT Cruiser convertible. I really enjoyed getting to know her better, and while I’d rather have been mobile, my knee made me dependent on her kind chauffeuring, and the bonus was developing a friendship with her. Divine Order.

Another new friend is musician and therapeutic laughter teacher (and so much more!) Laraaji Nadananda. I had crossed paths with him at a spiritual retreat back in the 1980s, but he did not remember. (No wonder—I was about half my current size, and not all that much over half my current age!) He is such a charismatic person—a Pied Piper of sorts, and one of those who is equally appealing to men and women. One of his claims to fame is that he dresses in orange. Head to toe. Only orange! Everyday. He was in my class, and I felt a real connection with him—of course, I’m sure everyone feels that way about him as he has a way of making everyone feel truly seen and valued. No wonder he is so popular! Anyway, I did love getting to know him, and felt really sad to part from him. As the conference drew to a close, I had this pang of not wanting to be separated from him--I felt that being able to have him as a friend in my life—in the flesh, everyday—would be so enriching. But he lives in New York, and I live in Denver , and that’s not a happening thing. I do still feel the connection, and I am sure that I will see him again. I was thrilled to see that he had bought my book and one of my CDs, as I respect him so much, it was cool to know that even after my class, he wanted more. I bought his laughter workshop CD, and now wish I had bought some of his music. Thankfully, I can buy it online! Oh, and he had a horizontal Chinese gong that he played for the class as our eyes were closed, and he produced an effect that was truly like traversing dimensions. I plan to get a gong like that and learn to play it. VERY cool.

I do want to stay in the present, but it’s a challenge sometimes, when you’ve experienced such a sublime time of feeling totally accepted and appreciated, as well as feeling the same way in return, to not want to go back in time. NOT that I don’t feel accepted and appreciated here and now, but just that it was so much fun to be with so many new people who felt like old friends in no time. There was such a sweet energy that pervaded the whole week, and it was very addictive! But it came to an end last Saturday (in that form, at least), and just as I was packing to come home, while trying to keep it together after an emotional closing ceremony and way too little sleep the night before and the night before that, I got a call from Rick saying that my flight had been cancelled and that I had been rescheduled on a later flight. There had been major storms over the eastern part of the country the night before, and it messed up the scheduling of the airlines in a major way—so much so, that there were people stranded in airports all over the country. With my original schedule, I was already not supposed to get to Denver till 10 p.m., and this was going to put me in at 11:30 p.m. at the earliest. Well—being as tired as I was, that news pulled the plug on my emotions, and I had a meltdown. (Hey—that’s step 3 in the Step-By-Step Frequency Raising System!) Thankfully, my helpful angel, Janice, helped me pack and Linda, my sister who lives in Greensboro, along with her husband, Stan, came to get me and my stuff. (Linda met Laraaji as we were leaving, and was thoroughly charmed as well.)

After we left Guilford College where the conference was held, Linda and I went to lunch and then did a lot of driving around and looking at houses and gardens (Greensboro is a gorgeous city and the neighborhood where they live is on a lake--really neat) which was big fun for me, and a great, passive way to spend "sister time" together. Then we went to her house so I could take a nap before heading to the airport at 6:00. She and her husband were going to drop me off at the airport on their way to see a movie. But when we got there, we found out that while my flight from Dulles to Denver was on time, my flight from Greensboro to Dulles was late. So there was more than a little likelihood of me being stranded in D.C. overnight. So they rescheduled me on a different airline for the next morning. Linda and Stan graciously allowed me to accompany them on their movie date to see A Prairie Home Companion, so at least I had something fun to do if I couldn’t go home! It was the perfect movie for the situation, and that the theater had the most comfortable theater seats I’ve ever experienced was a big help.

Thankfully, my flight out the next morning went off without a hitch, and I easily made my connection in Cincinnati , and got home at 1:30 in the afternoon. Even though I had wheelchair service all the way, I was utterly exhausted by the time I got home, and the next day, could barely walk because of my knee, even using a cane. Yikes. I’m focusing again on healing it, and I will be getting serious about finding help for it—natural as possible (thinking about prolotherapy)—and doing what I can mentally to heal it. I also have had a cold gunning for me, and thankfully, with all my many natural remedies such as essential oils, Ningxia Red juice, oregano capsules, and Thieves lozenges, and a healing mindset, have managed to, if not avoid the cold altogether, cycle through it very rapidly. Rick has been really wonderful through all this and has helped me immensely.

So that’s my update for now! More when Spirit moves me…