I have just enjoyed a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled free range eggs with a cup of cappuccino in this sweet little cafe, one of Diana's favorites in Dorchester. It was named for the title of the last play to be performed in the small theater at the back of the premises about one hundred years ago. Or so the story goes...
I am so enjoying the time alone to reflect and catch up with myself and these past few days. Today is Monday. I completed my walking pilgrimage last Tuesday, wrote on Wednesday and Thursday was spent with Maureen Fuller, Sowena her Cornish name, who is the Grand Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, before leaving Cornwall.
I got to spend 16 days in Cornwall. 16 days! I was sad to leave, yet knew that it was time. From Cornwall, I took the train from Plymouth, just over the River Tamar from Cornwall, to Chippenham, near Bath, to stay with my cousin, Liz and her family in the little town of Box. Her father and my mother are brother and sister, and grew up in nearby Bristol. I stayed a couple of nights there this time, and got to see my uncle and aunt, and two of my other cousins, Georgie and her family who live down the hill, and Churton who drove over in his VW van to join us all for dinner, go to a party, and spend the weekend in Box, as he was also going to babysit Natal, Liz's 3 year old son. I loved getting to be with family. I experienced a deep feeling of familiarity and ease. In this way, it doesn't matter that I have only been with them less than twenty times in my life. Our connection is timeless. In other ways, it matters deeply. It is a rare and special experience to be with people with whom you are blood related, and should not be only experienced a handful of times in one's life. There is a reflection of who one is, quirks, warts, beauty and all, between family members. Perhaps because I have not experienced this much in my life, I appreciate it so deeply and do not take it for granted. Also, I know that this has contributed to the relationship between my children and nieces and nephews. My brother, sister and I knew that we wanted our children to grow up with and experience an alive and connected relationship with their cousins that would evolve and grow naturally through much time and many shared experiences.
From Box, I spent Saturday afternoon with a soul friend, Celia Dunn and her husband, Antony, at their home south of Bath. Celia picked me up from the bus station in Bath, and brought me to her home and gardens about twenty minutes away. I will write a whole blog writing on my synchronistic and soul-reorganizing visit with Celia and her "Chakra Garden" as it was an experience and journey in and of itself. Suffice it to say for now, our time was rich, full and deeply resonant, and an auspicious confirmation of my soul's path.
Celia then dropped me back off at the train station in Bath "on time, in time" with three minutes to spare before I hopped on a meandering train through Somerset and Dorset to Dorchester, where my friend, Diana, has lived for the past three years. I am staying here with her until I take a train very, very early on Wednesday morning to meet Michael and Malie at Gatwick airport and move into the final phase of my journey here, this visit. The three of us will be traveling in a little rental car, and return via Stonehenge and Avebury to Box and my cousin, Liz's, house for two nights. Michael will get to meet his extended English family for the first time, as well as visit Bristol, Bath, and perhaps Cardiff (for something related to Doctor Who and Torchwood). We will then go to Oxford for two nights to experience both the town and the university, and perhaps the Cotswolds too. We will complete our car journey with a Sunday lunch and night with the other side of the family! We will stay with Karen and Tony in Kent, and get to spend the afternoon with Auntie Pat, my 90 year old aunt, who is my father's sister. I am so excited for Michael to get to meet and spend time with all of them too...I wonder what reflection of himself he will experience?!
From Kent we return the car at Gatwick Airport, meet up with Malie's parents who will have just arrived from Rome, and together we will head into London for a few days before Michael and I return to the States. While I am looking forward to being with my immediate family again, I don't know that I am ever ready to leave England.
I just want to be here, live here. I wonder what it will take for me to root back here, find my home and be here with my family?
I think that I had to write all of this to prepare myself for this next leg of my journey. It is a strange transition to leave the quiet and solitude of walking a sacred path by oneself in a more remote area of the country and come into more people, less (if any) walking, and conversations with others and not just with myself. It's all so good and wonderful - it's just very different from my previous few weeks. Funnily enough, and in a confusing way, I also feel very connected to this area of the country. Of course, it's all still considered the southwest and it is where my families are from - father's family from Cornwall, mother's family from Somerset. So, it's no wonder that I feel a connection and resonance with this overall area.
I do wonder where I will be called to put down my roots. I do wonder so much about my pull to England and wonder on so many levels where it is all leading me, and how it will all manifest and unfold. I do wonder what it will take to include my children and family in all of this! I do wonder what magic and miracles that Spirit has up its sleeve to make apparent this crazy and wonderful dream of mine to live and reside with grace, joy, ease and glory in England!
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