I do not know if you have ever felt this way, but it happened to me, twice.
Twice I seemed to have met an older and future version of myself.
Maybe not that we looked alike, but our essence, mannerisms and interests aligned and gave me a very familiar feeling.
A strong feeling where I was looking into my own eyes on two other women.
I saw my own personality, my own will, my own resilience, and my own inner drive, when I looked into the eyes of those two women.
Until then, I had never experienced a situation like that.
Here I was meeting older versions of ME.
It was surreal.
Apart from seeing myself in them, they also inspired me with their respective histories.
They were definitely ‘go do it’ types who did not wait on anyone else, grabbed hold of her respective dreams and did them. Both of those women shared an admirable passion for life.
I learnt about their amazing accomplishments, and they bolted me with the urge to continue doing my do and entwine it with a thirst for life and all its glorious generosities.
And each of them had husbands who absolutely adored them. The opposite was also true too because they each adored their respective husbands.
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Biker entered my life first. She used to ride her motorbike all over the place. Then a few days later and on a different occasion, I met Rocks.
Rocks worked with sterling silver and semi-precious stones making jewelry.
Those two women never met each other and that made my surreal feelings, even greater.
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I met Biker while she was briefly passing through my area and our paths crossed. An extremely chance meeting. We met when she approached me with an issue which I addressed, and together the problem was solved. I think it was somewhere during that time when the ‘connected’ feeling first strongly appeared.
Then we started speaking and it was like I was indeed having a conversation with myself.
WOW.
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Biker had a beautiful mid-sized dog with her and whom she was training to be a Support Animal. From the time we met and onwards, HER dog would run right up to me with a wagging tail and listen to me as if the dog believed it was mine as well.
Weird I say.
Biker owned an adventurous nature, a wanderlust vibe, loving energy and a supremely peaceful essence. She was indeed all about peace.
Our interactions may have been no more than 2 or 3 days for only a few hours each day, but oh wow!
When Biker returned to her home in a very distant state, she mailed me a package. Inside was a box with a handwritten note and a necklace she made herself. Part of the necklace included a small frame with these words on one side (see picture):
‘Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.’
And on the other side was a picture of herself from her younger days wearing her shades and sitting happily on top of her motorbike.
The note in the package simply said,
“Hi S____!
It is something to hang on the wall or around your neck.
You choose.
In Peace,
[The Biker’s Name]”
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RIDE ON BIKER, RIDE ON!
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Rocks had her own successful silver jewelry business. She made everything herself and gave off a warm, very loving, and creative vibe.
I first met Rocks and her husband through Two of my Cousins from 4 Hours Away where we 5 had dinner together.
Then days later I am walking with one of My Outdoor Cousins when he saw her and was about to introduce us. But when Rocks and I saw each other, we ran up to each other laughing, hugging and holding each other like 2 old friends. My Outdoor Cousin was baffled and trying to figure out what just happened.
Rocks once nonchalantly said something to me. When she said the statement, it felt more like sharing a fact than voicing a thought. And now I have a strange feeling that nonchalant statement will actually turn out to be my reality.
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Interestingly both women were about the same age, maybe 20 years on me. It was their warm energy which they both emitted, as well as their ‘go do it’ attitudes, and the absolute love for doing, being, seeing, living.
Biker had that wanderlust energy and adventurous characteristic I knew too well.
Not that I am a biker myself (yes, I have ridden on a motorbike much to my Mother’s displeasure when she found out, and I had been much more afraid of my Mother, than of falling off any motorbike).
Our connection seemed to have come from the warm feeling which discovery brings. Biker’s thing may have been on a motorcycle and my thing may have been driving a car or taking a plane, but we both shared the same feeling, because I immediately recognized that wanderlust characteristic.
Meeting Biker and Rocks did a lot of things for me.
They both did things I wanted to Post-Brain-Injury do, or to learn how to manage doing somethings now.
Rocks reinforced the need to express my creative urges. The things inside of me which must be let out or I will explode. To vomit art.
To let them out now!
When Biker was no longer able to do long rides, she and her husband bought an RV to continue travelling as they ensured a place to eat, sleep and bathe. The RV also allowed them to bring their dog along. Here I received the lesson of still being able to manage my adventurous feelings but to simply change my method of transportation from one past-form to another current-form.
From meeting their respective spouses, I received living examples of exactly what the oozing of mutual respect and love looked like in a romantic relationship. I got to see how I want my own romantic relationship to be.
And from meeting Biker and Rocks, I got to see how my future looks.
Hope with a forward arrow attached.
Thank you, Biker and Rocks, you two amazing Ladies paved great pathways which I so want to be on.