Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) I'll be driving down to London with Kuvalaya. We'll stay at Sukhavati. Then we'll set off in Padma's car, with Modgala, on Friday morning, via the ferry and off to Amida France, taking a couple of days so the journey is part of the fun. Then, a week with friends and an opportunity to meet members of the team that I only know via skype, phone and email - so looking forward to this
Gosh, it's a long time since I was there - the summer of 2005, the summer of the London bombings - I was overwhelmed by text messages when I was finally able to get a signal on my mobile, to tell me that my son Simon was safe. Safe from what? I hadn't heard the news, so rushed to the landline for clarification. (Like many Londoners, Simon has a history of being nearby bombings - IRA, Al Qaeda. London commuters are used to the Underground being shut because of bomb warnings. I lived in London through the 70s, when we were all on high alert and no journey was undertaken without vigilance.)
It was also the year of the death of the sister of one of my Order, so she and I travelled to Ottawa together. It seemed so long ago, but casting my mind to those days, I could almost be back there.
So much has happened in the intervening years, both for me and also Amida France - I wonder what changes I'll see when I get there!
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