Well, as promised in my last post, there is more. Welcome to Part II. And what an incredible Part II it is....at least for me! If you find yourself getting bored...bear with me...it just may be worth it. :+)
They say (the infamous "they" strike again!) that Christmas is a time for miracles. While this doesn't exactly qualify as a miracle, for me it is so truly strange/freaky/wonderful that it at least rated writing about.
One of the neatest things about my Christmas at home was the incorporation of friends in a larger way than ever before into my Holiday. Waking up Christmas morning with my best friend. Sharing Christmas dinner with friends who had come together as "family" and of course, meeting new friends who might eventually rate that precious word "family" to me. Such was my Christmas season. Wonderful old friends and great new ones. One of whom in particular made a special sort of impression on me simply because he was such a nice guy. While nice people are not at all unusual in the Maritimes, it's still always nice to meet new people. This man was great fun. Introduced by my best friend, we quickly found that we had much in common and struck up a nice, easy friendship. We visited him often while I was home for the holidays and we always had great fun. Sharing music,stories, laughter and camaraderie, I had yet another reason for being grateful for being home. Meeting a wonderful new friend. Knowing that eventually I had to return to Ontario, we became Facebook friends in an effort to stay connected at least in some small way. While I know that so many people hate Facebook, I'm not one of them. When you have friends around the world especially, it's a great way to stay connected. It also helps maintain the sense of belonging I feel every time I go home. So Facebook it is. My new friend from home and I are still Facebook friends. And he is still a very sweet man who I proudly call "friend". But, like all good things, my trip home had to end and I had to come back to Ontario. I left NS on January 9th having spent a wonderful New Year's Eve and Day with my friends - old and new and came back with rather a heavy heart. I missed my home and friends already...and that was all while I was still on the plane!
Now I am back in Ontario. It had been a little over a month and life was pretty much the same as life in Ontario always has been. While I do have a few good friends here, nothing can ever compare to what home delivers up to me whenever I am lucky enough to be there. But life goes on and I'm trying to make the best of it. To that end I have decided to try and meet new people. Something, by the way, that for the most of the nine years I've been here, I've abhorred. When first I moved to Ontario I tried everything I knew to "fit in". I joined clubs. I started going to church again. I volunteered. None of it brought me the friends I sought so desperately. At least not for quite a number of years. I did meet a few very special people over the nine year course, but only a few and after trying so hard, in so many different ways and being soundly rejected so often, I finally gave up on new friends in Ontario and decided that the friends that I already had were as many as I would ever have. Thank God they were as awesome as they are or I would never have made it in this province! In any event, I was determined to give making new friends one more shot. Many questioned my methods but I figure that I've tried most of what isn't frowned upon so what the hey....I'll go with something different! So I went a rather non traditional (and a little scary for me) route and lo and behold, I started meeting new people! Go figure! Most of the people I met were not the sort who became close friends, but they were still worthwhile people and I enjoyed spending time with them. Then the really "out of the Ontario way" thing happened. I met a really nice guy! The kind I would consider actually calling "friend"! Here! In Ontario! After nine years! Wow! Cool! He's charming, smart, witty and fun to be around. In short, my kind of people. AND...he introduced me to more much like him! Nice people! Really nice people! Again, people I would certainly consider calling "friend". I've only been back a month and a half and now have a new circle of friends. How cool is that?! Friends are and will always be a treasure that I don't take lightly. When I find them, I pray that they will be able to put up with me and all my idiosyncratic ways and that friendship will truly become a given. At this point, I think I'm well on my way. Who'd a thunk it?! Very, very cool!
So I now have something of a life. Interesting concept for me. A good one, but different. And not just good. Really, truly GOOD. I find myself spending as much time as possible with this new friend and by extension, I get to share his friends. As mentioned, I am a Facebook person. In talking, it was mentioned that he was on Facebook so one day I went to add him as a friend. When I got to the spot on Facebook where you did this, I looked at what I was doing, quickly realized that I had somehow made a mistake, went back to my homepage and started over. There it was again! "You have one mutual friend". ?????? That's not possible. (at this point I actually shook my head for real!) I met this man a few weeks ago and it says here that we have a "mutual friend"?? Okay, let's review. He was born in Bermuda to British parents and spent at least 30 years of his life there. Another chunk of time was spent living in the UK. I spent the first 41 years of my life in Nova Scotia, Canada, then the next nine in Ontario, Canada where I met this person with the really cool past. He's been in Canada 12 years. I've been in Canada all my life. None of this leads me to the path that says "you have one mutual friend". In fact...none of it seems even remotely possible. (I'm still shaking my head). I finally focused enough to actually read who that mutual friend was. GET OUT !!!! No way!! Not possible!! Our "mutual friend" was none other then the wonderful guy I had just met and connected with so well while home for Christmas! What??!! Slowly, very slowly, things started to click in my brain. I remembered my new friend at home talking about his days in the theatre in Bermuda. I remembered a phone call that he received from his "old mate Pete" (name changed to protect the none too innocent!) who he hadn't heard from in years, I remembered the many fascinating stories of sailing and diving the Bermuda waters. I then remembered hearing those same stories from Pete!! These two men, both new found friends of mine, go back years and years! Good grief!! I'm back to the whole NO WAY thing! This stuff doesn't happen in real life. And it certainly doesn't happen to me! And yet it did. I spoke to Pete the next day and got the final confirmation. Yup, two new friends, one in Halifax, NS one in Fergus, ON know one another far better than they know me! To say my mind was blown would be such an understatement as to be a joke but I was totally and utterly gobsmacked! (the two men in question would approve of that word. My nod to them). We're not just talking half of Canada here. This one spans oceans and even entire continents! Yup - gobsmacked it is! Serendipity? God works in mysterious ways? It's a small world? Six degrees of separation? Whatever you call it, it still blows my mind!
So here I am,roughly a month and a half later, with new friends, actually enjoying Ontario since I first arrived and still shaking my head incredulously at the way all of this happened. A miracle? Probably not even close. An incredible gift? You bet. And it all started when, where and how? At Christmas, in Nova Scotia through my best friend! While I realize that Nova Scotia cannot really take all the credit for this one, you have to admit, it is kinda neat!!!
Merry Christmas Rachel!!!
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That is such a fantastic story, Rachel. Thanks for sharing it. Friendships are an amazing gift! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a small world, especially here in Canada - just a big village really. Like the time my husband Mike got talking to a 'Red Car' driver coming home from Toronto Airport who had encountered my father in Inverness in the North of Scotland when he was a little lad and my dad was a local policeman. Apparently, my father was very strict as a bobby - dispersing groups of teenage boys in the town with a serious tone. Little did the cab driver know that my dad brought me sweets home every night, was very affectionate and found most things amusing as well as setting the town's ladies' hearts a-flutter.
ReplyDeleteAs for your newfound feelings of connection here in Ontario, I hope and pray that they will continue to grow. For my own part, I have never felt more at home anywhere than here in Guelph even back in the U.K. where I spent the first fifty years of life. As you know our family immigrated here seven and a half years ago and although I really missed European architecture and all the history evident in the U.K., I found that bricks and mortar and historical resonance were not the factors that made me feel at home but that discovering people who didn't mind me 'bleating on' at length online and ruminating at length on my thoughts helped. Initially though, it started with joining the local church's community kitchen as well as sharing home baking with neighbours who were a bit stressed at times; this all contributed to the formation of a social network. Giving random acts of kindness and having a listening ear as well as receiving mercy from kind folk (sometimes therapist) when I was low were all stepping stones to a sense of belonging. Mind you, I do believe that Canadians are special in their abilities to be friendly - not as reserved as us Brits. Then again, I think that wherever Jesus is is 'home' and for me that's Guelph.