The day before yesterday, on the way back home from running an errand, I checked my post box and was delighted to find an envelope addressed to me. My heart filled with joy when I saw it was from my dear friend, Kaarina, whom I adore.
I ran up the stairs, memories of happy times stumbling over each other in my head as I was transported to a few months ago, when I had the privilege of meeting her in person.
I was eager to open the envelope. And when I did, my eyes filled up.
Soul connection!
Often, we connect with someone and a soul connection is born. We long to meet them. When they live in a far off country, it seems unlikely. It feels frustrating. We wish for a miracle to happen and in my case, it did. I swear the Universe conspired. Against all odds, we made that trip to Canada.
It was a very special trip for me. I was going to stay with my best friend of 35+ years for three weeks. As my luck would have it, two more close friends reside in that country. So I was looking forward to a fabulous time.
I got it.
Meeting Kaarina Dillabough is one of the best moments in my life. She is a warm generous person who is intuitively responsive and spontaneously friendly. She is a fabulous photographer and it is a delight to see her gorgeous pictures on Facebook.
Kaarina is a business strategist, motivational speaker, facilitator, trainer and personal/professional coach and mentor. She is a former Olympic coach with an important place in the history of Canadian Olympics – yes! … and helps people take action and achieve results. I love her tagline “Decide2Do” She shares her story here.
“I’m not interested in creating winners for a season: I’m interested in developing champions for life.” Kaarina Dillabough
We connected via her blog at the letter “O” of her series called An Alphabet of Business Questions and Tips. Of course I immediately wished we had met earlier…still! And after that, the fun times rolled. I loved the wrap up post of the series!
Much later, I wrote “Xenodochial” for the letter X in the April A to Z Challenge 2013
We continued to interact and I enjoyed it very much. To me, here was a strong, level headed person who walked the talk. As our trip took shape, I couldn’t wait to meet her.
And then we met.
We had a glorious time. It was a magical day that began with the most beautiful drive followed by lunch at a lovely restaurant, a tour of a mill turned into an art studio, a visit to her beautiful home, our very first sight of snow, a visit with her friend Mr. Allan Pace at the Farmhouse Pottery, who also runs Canoe North Adventures.
Then it was time to return home, but not without a promise of another meeting, which was a couple of days later.
Every time we think of her, we’re filled with a warm happy feeling, reminiscing about our time together. And the precious gifts she gave us. The best gift for me is the gift of her friendship!
No matter what I write, I realized I can never do justice to this post. My friendship with Kaarina is far more than that. All I can say is it is an honor to know her and I am blessed to have her in my life. We enjoy long emails to each other and feel a deep soul connection. I look forward to meeting her again!
Kaarina’s writing touches my heart and I always feel inspired by her words. Please, do read this post: Wishes for a simpler time. I promise it will resonate with you! Another post you’ll love is: What will you do when no one is looking?
Tell me – have you met an online friend in real life?
How did it feel?
(Linking up with UnknownMami for Sundays In My City – my favorite meme. I am grateful to Claudya for making world travel so easy!)
Merry Christmas, dear Ones!
Namaste!
I am glad you are here. May your day be filled with smiles!
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