This morning I took my friend Anna to the airport. After 4 years in the UK, she is going back to New Zealand. Who knows when we will see each other again; the intention is there for sure.
With all the marvels and wonder of technology these days, we will be able to catch up on Facebook, by email, twitter, Skype calls and the like. With a video call on Skype, we will even be able to see each other.
It is not the same as meeting in the flesh though, is it? There is something about being together in the same place at the same time that lends itself to a rich and meaningful experience. You can linger over a meal; a coffee; go for long strolls in the countryside and let the conversation meander where it will, interspersed with companionable silences.
We talked deep talk, Anna and I. Sooner or later the talk would drift to A Course in Miracles. Anna has been a student of ACIM for 7 years; I am a newbie at 4 years. We would share our understanding, insights and puzzlement. It helped a great deal to be able to talk at this level with someone who is also a course student. The course says you learn what you teach. Anna was my learning and teaching partner. What a blessing!
When I got home after seeing Anna off, I had the refrain of a song and the words ‘turn around’ in my head. Instead of ignoring it, I went to find it – on YouTube – and played it while I sat with the feelings of sadness and let the tears flow. Then I found the lyrics*, played it again and sang along. Now writing this, the tears are not far behind. I don’t cry easily, so this is unusual for me. It somehow felt important to go along with the need to cry, allow the tears and feel the feelings. It was like honouring Anna and the time we had together as friends. Of course, this is not the end of the friendship; it is merely the end of an era.
Yesterday Anna gave me a farewell gift: a perpetual calendar based on Robert Holden’s book Happiness Now! The message for today, September 26, is: It is never too late to be happy again.
How very appropriate! Already I feel much lighter after my little private good-bye. And of course, after a 24 hour journey, Anna will be with her family in New Zealand. She will embark on a new era, a new chapter of her life story. A big part of that will be to continue studying and teaching A Course in Miracles. Endings and beginnings are not a time to be shied away from or feared but a time to be embraced.
So then Anna: To your new life, new beginnings and new discoveries about yourself! I look forward to hearing all about it.
*Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler
Photo Credit: Erik Dolle
