Building Community & Connections

I have just returned from 9 weeks away from home...for the most part out of the country exploring new lands for me in the South Pacific. I experienced many new adventures and lessons along the way.  Lessons are easy to find when you truly listen and experience different cultures than yourself.
Today I am going to reflect on some amazing re-connections throughout my journey.  

As you may recall from my book, I set goals for myself every six months.  Goals for my continued sobriety, goals for growing and developing myself.  One of those goals set in January/25 was to A. deepen the connections I already have and B. make new connections with people that carry the same vibe I do.  It continues to amaze me that when you put a goal out there to the universe, create conscious focus around it, and pay attention, how those goals come to fruition.  

I flew to the first port of call, Auckland, New Zealand with my friend "J."   She works for the airline, and had a layover for a couple of days.  We first met at an on-line support group after Rehab. We have been meeting over Zoom for about 4 years, and we support each other through our journeys, sharing our joy as well as our struggles. As we live in different provinces, we rarely see each other in person, so getting to spend several days in person, in a new country for me was amazing.  Getting to know "J." better, was a bonus to the trip that I had not expected and I realized afterward how this fit into my recent goal.

My 2nd connection was made while in Auckland, when in the lobby of the hotel I am staying in, enjoying my morning latte, my ears suddenly perk up when I hear a familiar voice.  Who is that I ask myself, at this point relying on my hearing only.  I wander over, and say "S." is that you?  Sure enough "S" and worked together well over 20 years ago, and we had lost contact for most of those years.  We share a genuine embrace at our chance meeting and continued to chat a number of times during our respective hotel stays.  I had lost touch with so many people, and it was fun to catch up on those we were aware of and talk about their journey's.  It was unsettling to learn the fate of the person who let me go after 26 years at the firm we both worked for, but it did cross my mind that Karma is alive and well.  I am pinching myself, thinking, what are the chances of reconnecting with this person thousands of kilometers away on a different continent?

My 3rd connection was made in Auckland.  We re-connected with "A.", a dear friend of my daughters years ago.  We hadn't seen each other since she moved from Canada back to her home a few years back.  It was wonderful to hear about her journey back home and see her so happy and full of joy.  We left with an amazing photography book that she and her partner gave us, and many memories from years gone by.

My 4th connection was made on the cruise ship about 2 weeks in.  On a number of occasions I saw a man that I felt looked familiar, but couldn't place.  Finally one day he sits near me on the Observation Deck of the ship and asks my name...I hear his name, "P." , but the memory is still not clear, but as we chat about where we live, used to live, where we worked, etc. the light bulb goes on for both of us.  We met probably 15 years ago as we had both attended couple of retreats of an organization called Inside Out Leadership, which later we both volunteered with.  Over the course of the rest of the cruise we chat a number of times, and have dinner with "P." and his wife "K."  So wonderful to re-connect to this part of my journey....You get what you focus on as my friend Pat would say!

As I had set the intention for myself to focus on connections with others, building my "tribe" of trusted people, it felt like a miracle, that I had, in the space of a couple of weeks, had already deepened a relationship, and reconnected to a couple of more people  that were important to me.

Stay tuned to my next Journal...I will be talking about lessons learned from a facinating book I read, The Well Lived Life by Dr. Gladys McGarey, a 103 year old woman who has lived a remarkable journey.