It is hard to believe that it has been a week since I drove to Brampton to see Amy and everyone. So much has happened since, so in a sense it feels like much longer.
But at the same time, I have been longing to blog about it for all this time, so it seems amazing it took me this long. But it has been crazy busy so I just couldn't get to it earlier.
So, first of all, I tend to get lost in and around Toronto. The drive there in my new old 2005 Toyota Echo, just acquired a few days before, looking much like this:
toyota echo
was uneventful, but somehow I forgot that last time I used Google maps for directions, I ran afoul of a limitation - it doesn't tell you which way to turn at certain exits. So once having exited the 401, I wandered around, asking directions at the gas station etc. Showed up at Amy's feeling rather frazzled, but graciously greeted by her, her husband and dear Rita and her Barnie.
Rita!
(above photo taken by Amy's son, Darwin)
And the fun began. :)
We sat around in the living room talking and talking. It is always so lovely the way that one meets Gaians for the first time and just skips over the preliminaries, moving straight to the good conversations. Amy had lots of delicious snacks and goodies to munch on, and a beautiful and very welcoming house. I settled into the cosy couch, nibbled and talked and enjoyed the pleasure of just being there.
(Photos below were taken by Amy and Rita)
living room
(myself and Sheila on the couch, Amy's hubby Ray in the foreground)
gaia gorgeous
(left to right: Liza, Rita and Amy)
As the afternoon wore on, others came to join us: Robert and Liza and Sheila. At first, the guys were hanging out together outside while the women, out of consideration for my sensitivity to the cool weather (wasn't that bad but being a tropical flower, I tend to gravitate strongly to the warm :) ), sat around the living room and got to know each other.
more gaia gorls
(left to right: Liza, myself, Rita and Sheila)
We also got to meet Amy's two children, her daughter ever so briefly but her son for more time. Last time I had met Amy, last summer, we had gotten together at a restaurant in Toronto, so it was a great joy for me to see her in her natural element. Everything about her spoke of her pleasure in her home, her family and extending hospitality to us. She is truly the hostess with the mostest :)
Eventually the guys started to migrate inside, and at one point all six of us Gaians found ourself sitting around, being skilfully led by Robert in a spontaneous sharing exercise about how we first found Gaia. Fascinating to hear the very different stories from each person there.
posing moment
(Amy, Liza and Robert)
We had originally planned to go out to a restaurant but we were so comfy at the house that we clamoured to order in, and accordingly just at the right time delicious Indian/Chinese dishes arrived apparently by magic :) and we sat around the dining room table and the adjacent sitting room digging in.
dinner again
(in this picture above, we see Rita's hubby, Barnie, at the far right)
first supper
One of the conversations that impressed me the most was a discussion between Rita and Robert about the inner abyss, the endlessness of the spiritual journey. Robert brought up the experience of Elie Wiesel and his account of his experience with the Holocaust in the book
Night
Six hours after I arrived, people began gently to drift out the door, one by one. Time is such an amazingly fluid thing, none of us could believe how quickly the day had gone.
rob and nic
I felt strongly that this was not the end but the beginning (or in the case of Amy, continuation) of several face to face friendships that would be deeply significant in my life.
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November 2009 
Nicole
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