Having all of my college Pi Beta Phi Sorority pledge sisters in Cannon Beach, OR from Utah and around the world to celebrate our 20th Reunion of pledging together in August of 1999 was life affirming.
There’s just something about a dream coming to reality that you never knew you really had and watching it unfold seems and feels like…
a miracle.
We started by re-connecting at ‘The Farm’. That illustrious place they’d all heard my Dad and I talk about over the years and dinners at Market Street in Salt Lake City.
O r e g o n
The place I’d introduced during the first week of meeting them in 1999 as my hometown where “The Goonies were made.”
“So this is it!?” they asked.
I nodded holding my arms out open wide.
“It’s so good to see you Foster,” we hug.
“It’s good to see you too,” I say.
Warmth. Embrace. That good ol’ feeling of being home again amongst dear old friends.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you when your Dad passed. I just didn’t know what to say…,” she said looking directly at me. We embraced again. Instant forgiveness in the me neither, the me too, and the it’s ok.
We made our way down to the river. Grey clouds overhead. Quartz crystals underfoot. Gentle fire smoke winding it’s way around us. As though we were doing a larger do-si-do dance together.
There it is again — Connecture ~ Connection in Nature
The quaint cottages of Cannon Beach enveloped each one of these sisters. Tight. Tiny. Cozy. Perfect.
We worked out together at Lala’s Gym.
We visited Short Sands and the Neah-Kah-Nie outlook.
We shopped at B. Boutique! Thanks Jenny BBO, Em B and Miz Armac for setting up Champagne and Cupcakes for us!
We nestled into eachother’s sweetness at Bruce’s Candy Kitchen. #LifeIsSweet <3
We ate at Bill’s Tavern for dinner.
We had a bonfire on the beach! Huge shout out to Kevy Becks for bringing us a bucket of kindling and firewood!
We enjoyed an ultra nostaligc cozy breakfast at The Lazy Susan.
Setting out to share the best parts of ourselves, of our stories, of our lives can only and ever be done once we’ve moved through and metabolized the grit.
“Everyone is exactly the same!” But different. Grown. And wiser.
This is what I like to call a gem. It’s like a surprise dream. Like the warm baby blanket that’s always been wrapped around you, but is also invisible. It’s a feeling. Destiny in action where all the pieces of feeling just seem to fall into place. Sometimes the pictures don’t always line up along the way but this is where we can let go. Let it be. Let everyone arrive and show up how they need to or can. And love them (and yourself/myself) exactly where they/you are. Ah Home. That unconditional, non-judgmental space WITHOUT a story. My senses fade. But I still feel you, Home.
That’s what hosting my sweet Pi Phi sister’s felt like over the August 9-11 Summer weekend. What an opportunity!
To get a rare chance of sharing a magical place with friends you’ve known for twenty years… was like sharing all the challenges, struggles, and triumphs I’ve been silently traversing through over these last ten years. Like sharing my life without saying a word. The deepest vulnerabilities without abandon falling off of me like wooden blocks.
I already knew I was safe with these gals. None of us are perfect and that’s what makes us us. Honestly, to tell you the truth, I was probably the most closed minded of all of us throughout our college years. Wanting to reach for openness. Daring to be myself. (Brené Brown just hadn’t written Daring Greatly yet!) Getting trapped in new closets. It just took time to feel safe, to feel loved, and to really allow myself to be seen. I am doing better with that these days. Inviting my friends IN.
At the end, departing on the edges of Indian Beach I said, “You all are like the warm blanket I never knew I always had.”
Wonder what our 30th Reunion will be like? 😉
SHIFTWISE company party!
Seaside High School Class of 1999 Reunion!!!
And breathe… remember, the gratitude. <3
New Paths of Discovery for these Dreams of
C O N N E C T U R E…
We invited some younger friends into our beach home during the Hood to Coast weekend so mama could run, walk, play, feel, think.
A Blurrrrrrr… New Coaching photos to ground things out again.
Washington the surprise for Gretchen’s birthday.
My hope continues to be about inspiration. There’s just something about contributing creatively through inspired action. A move that has kept momentum under my toes when all I felt like I could really do is curl up and cry. Yep and I do that too. Being S O F T through the challenges…
I can open. I can close. Some days in the blink of an eye. Some days I have a little more agency over my openness or closedness. Ah yes, learning boundaries. You mean we aren’t all just light beings looking for the light? Perhaps. And it’s taken years for me to understand the varying degrees of “separateness” that veil us like illusions. We’re all just waking up in our own space and time.
Respect. Honor. Integrity. Stemming from… MOSSY ROOTS.
I used to just expect that everyone was open and wanted to be open, myself included. We all have hearts isn’t that how we love and share love? Let’s love each other goddammit!!! The understanding has been gradually increasing as if more or less really is a thing. What I’ve learned is to honor peoples individual lives, stories and experiences exactly where they are. Not where I think they are. Not where I think they should be. Not where I want them to be. Not even where I want myself to be. No more assumptions cloaked as openness and a yearning to “love”. A bit more wisdom and tenderness traversing it’s way through these paths. Listening. Acceptance. Ah yes, these vulnerabilities have taught me.
I crash like a wave over a rock, pummelled with realization after realization, these storms are passsing quicker and I keep getting better at casting sail. Through the good. Through the bad. Through whatever seems to show up. Without too much expectation. Ok maybe a little. Because Wayne Dyer says to, “Expect Miracles.” So that’s what I shall do!
And if you have made it this far along the journey of Lala’s Life Garden blogs I’d like to offer a gift to one of my readers. Shoot an email on over to LalasLifeGarden@gmail.com and share one miracle that you’re grateful for this Summer (don’t worry those will be kept private).
You’ll be entered into a drawing for a Lala’s Life Garden T-Shirt!
Winner will be drawn before the end of October!