i shared last week on london, shalom and coming home.  only i hadn’t sat down to linger on london.  and, i’m really still a little in awe that i landed there again this year.  last year was a very unexpected trip and nothing short of a grace gift from above.  and, i couldn’t have known, 12 months ago, that the gift of going would begin an unplanned journey over this past year.  a one foot in front of the other kind of journey that requires empty, open hands, and a willing and surrendered heart.

 

i shared last week on london, shalom and coming home. only i hadn’t sat down to linger on london. and, i’m really still a little in awe that i landed there again this year. last year was a very unexpected trip and nothing short of a grace gift from above. and, i couldn’t have known, 12 months ago, that the gift of going would begin an unplanned journey over this past year. a one foot in front of the other kind of journey that requires empty, open hands, and a willing and surrendered heart.

when my friend rebekah said, “lets go.”  i, initially, said, “no.”  i always want to go, but it felt like too much.  however, saying no doesn’t always mean that you won’t go.  when your on an open handed journey, in the end, you listen louder to your heart, and the one that is speaking to it, then your head.

so after the purposeful persistence of the best kind of friend (the kind that help you hear the heart) and the clear conclusion that this would be full circle for me, i knew i needed to go.  we  crossed continents and went to colour conference .  it was pretty amazing.  our time was jam packed with great teaching , words that i knew were directly for me, and way too much talking.  we talked so much that i didn’t even get a proper picture of us together.  sometimes you just live so much in the moments that it’s too much for a camera to capture anyways.  and this trip was like that.  i captured most of it with my heart.

after colour we stayed in kensington for a night.

i kind of freaked when i saw a unicorn outside our hotel room.  and, later learned that a unicorn is part of the birtish coat of arms.  a unicorn and a lion with a crown!  what?!!!  reason #12309234 i’m an anglophile.

i scoped out wils + kates digs.   no luck in seeing them.

and gazed at the gardens… i wish i could have spent all day wandering around kensington gardens.  sitting on benches that perhaps j.m. barrie sat on while writing peter pan.

one day, and a lot of words later , we had to go our separate ways.  rebekah back to new york and then i trained down to the south coast to visit my british friends (who are more like my british family) for a day and a half.  it was lovely.  curry, tea, talking and puttering about parham house on a bank holiday.

clearly, i mostly took pictures of gardens.  it would appear that i took a holiday in the english countryside which wasn’t the case, only the conclusion. the conclusion that i’ll have to go back again…to just wander and write.

and the wisteria.  wisteria everywhere.  i just need some at my house now.

p. s. more travel here + traveling soon?  what to wear on a plane.