Make new friends and keep the old, some are silver and the others gold.

New Zealand was a bunch of things I didn't think it would be.

It was on the list because well, vicinity.

Because everyone said you have to go.

If you have been following along, I had postponed NZ once in favor of Fiji.

Which turned out to be divine, and trusting my gut led to friends. Real connections made over a few hours or a few days with total strangers.

So reluctantly I came south to New Zealand. To the land of Hobbits and such.

After 6 days in the North Island, I flew to Christchurch to meet up with the stranger who is now my friend.

I've been struggling with how to say all the things that weekend did for my spirit.

Connected

Grounded

Happy

Normal

Open

me.

I know that my husband sent Rana to me just as he engineered my first Florida friendship with Maryanne all those years ago. He put me in that place and he made that weekend possible. I know it like I know I need air to breathe.

It was powerful to know I could really enjoy myself again. In front of other people and not feel any kind of way about that.

That I am crying about it now as I write this tells me I am right. Signifies that a change has happened deep within me.

Something has shifted, even if it is ever so slightly.

So I now have a friend for life living on the other side of the world who also loves to travel. We will find places and ways to meet up again I know for sure. Her friends are warm and generous, her family is beautiful and happy. Her story isn't simple and easy either, but her life is wonderful and full. And I am grateful I can be in it.

**also funny anecdote. Because we met at the pool in Fiji, I had my hair up in a hat. When I realized I was going to visit her, I asked if she had a hairdresser who could touch up my very gray roots. She booked me an appointment. When the hairdresser asked her what color is your friend's hair she had to say she didn't know because well, she had never seen it. Sometimes it happens like that.

*** I'd like to also say that the Fiji magic brought me more than Rana. It also brought me Leo and Caroline from Sweden who I spent a week or so with in Fiji and who I now count as friends as well. We also plan to find each other again on this amazing planet and have new adventures.