“Back on Californian Soil – Recollections of my new land and home in England”

This year I began the journey that will change my life.

I traveled to England several times to experience the magnificence and bounty of Mother Nature.

England is a familiar place to many throughout the world as one of the destination agendas for many travelers’ list of “must sees.”

The United Kingdom is an encyclopedia of delights filled with an abundance of historical significance, unimaginable cultural depth, and the poetic grace of centuries.

One interesting counterpoint, however, is, I am not a world traveler. Nor have I ever had any expectations of being one.

I’ve never ventured far from the boundaries of my home with its comforts and my neighborhood’s rhythm and hum of routine.

I’ve never heard the enchanting and enticing sirens of adventure beckoning me with dreams of faraway places. The desire of adventure never graced my consciousness.

I lived happily within the comfortable cocoon of my home. A peaceful serenity traveled within me.

However, one of the beauties of life is that sometimes it throws you a curve ball. A tiny seed of an idea grows into something wonderfully exceptional and beyond any storybook telling.

This is what happened to me. Suddenly and unexpectedly I was going to a country I had never seen. This opportunity was seemingly coming out of the ether — almost appearing like magic.

I was filled with the excitement of a child’s wonderment! What would this beautiful land look like to me? Surely the butterflies in my stomach must know something!

What was waiting for me in this new, unfamiliar land?

Mother Nature in all her glory welcomed me, as a beloved friend from long ago.

Spring was beginning its dance of renewal. Each and every part of my heart, felt the beating pulse of a remarkable rebirth and renewal.

I knew, deep within every fiber of my body, it was a land I was returning to. I belonged to this land.

The tender budding shoots of delicate new leaves graced the trees. Each one a shade of green so incredibly alive with vivid eye-pleasing life!

It was the beginning of a new season filled with every possibility. The feeling of oneness, being completely open to reach out, touch, and to embrace life as it unfurled around me was profoundly moving. And, I was a part of it.

With child-like innocent eyes, I was enveloped in every sight, sound, and endless texture.

There were rolling hills filled with wild mustard and fields of daffodils with vibrant smiles on their bright yellow faces as they met the golden sun.

The seasons changed with the ease and tenderness only Mother Nature could accomplish.

I, too, had changed.

I spent more than three months in the English countryside with its magnificence that most people will never see. The ancient air is so rich and pure. It is an indescribable elixir of life itself.

Landscapes with sweeping vistas of golden wheat at the time of harvest, clouds so low and fluffy you can almost reach out and touch them.

There is a stillness and beauty that goes on forever.

But, it is the people of this blessed land that I have fallen in love with the most. There is a graciousness that exists in the countryside that flourishes among the people.

Time has slowed down. Everywhere couples walk hand-in-hand — young and old alike. There is civility among neighbors. People stop on the street, in the villages, towns, and hamlets to greet one another.

Of course, this is the 21st Century and modernization is everywhere. But, the courtesy and graciousness seems to have remained as if time stood still.

In this wondrous place of the English countryside I have found another place to belong, feel the warmth of the land, and its people. And, I have found a second home.

I have been given the gift of understanding living life in the now. I have learned the internal peace, patience, and serene pleasures of living your own honest truth.

Most of us spend the precious moments of our lives busy filling up our time with the daily activities and necessities of “doing life.”

It’s not because we don’t think about the importance of each second and living in that precise moment. Life simply can get in the way of living.

It takes time and the understanding of how important the priority of our own life’s energy is. Take the time to see the beauty around you.

To simply be is the greatest gift you can give yourself.