Namaste

What fascinating people and beautiful land that we have moved to.  Since our house didn't end up closing until this past Thursday, we had many days to fill. We filled them by visiting most of the shops and restaurants in Blairsville and the near by towns of Blue Ridge, and Young Harris Georgia and Murphy North Carolina.  Everyone that we came in contact with and talked with were very friendly and gracious.  I'm  sure that it was because of our lack of accent or too much of an unfamiliar one, people always ask where we hail from.  Most of the time when we tell people Ohio, they usually were at one time,  knew someone who was or were at least curious about the state, which always started a fairly long conversation.  Blairsville has a very large summer population of Floridians who have homes that they come to so that they can get out of the summer heat of Florida.  So many times when stopping into the local shops the people usually ask if we are from Florida.  Once, while in the local hair salon getting my hair done, a gentleman that works there, assumed that I was one of the Floridians, asked me what part of Florida I was from.  When I said that I was from Ohio, he thought for a moment and then asked, "is that near Clearwater?"  Hmmm.

While in Murphy, we went into a sweet little shop that had everything from jewelry to Indian and spiritual items.  The store was divided into small rooms.  As I entered the second of five rooms, all at once I felt a great peace come over me.  I couldn't help but smile.  It felt like I was home.  The shopkeeper came in and started talking with me.  I shared with her that I am a Reiki Master and before you know it we were involved in a deep personal conversation and, I'm still not sure if it was the energy of the room, the mountains or just the moment, but, without any information from her, I was able to share with her some problem areas in her life and give her some positive reinforcement and encouragement.  A few more customers then came in and we ended our visit.  It was an incredibly spiritual experience.  A few days later I ran into her in our local coffee shop and she shared that with the encouragement that I was able to offer, she had mustered up the courage to start making the changes in her life, and heading in a more positive direction.  I feel that it was a true gift that I was able to help this beautiful soul.

The downtown motel that we spent the last week in had two comfy rocking chairs right outside our door.  Needless to say, we spent many hours sitting and rocking and visiting with other guests and the owners of the motel.  The other motel guests were from all over the country, and many had very interesting life stories that they shared with us.  The owners were a wonderful couple that we had much in common with on many levels.  On Wednesday evening, it was almost dark when a car dropped off an Appalachian Trail hiker and his dog.  They had come off of the trail to get supplies.  When they got out of the car that gave them a ride, the dog, a beautiful black German Sheppard, trotted right over to our truck in the parking lot and waited to get in.  The hiker called him back, they stopped by our rockers and visited for a few minutes before going to their room for a good night's sleep.  The next morning, we were sitting outside enjoying a cup of coffee when the hiker and his dog came out.  After taking care of business, they stopped by.  They ended up talking with us for more than an hour.  During the course of conversation, we realized that we connected on a very spiritual level.  When it was time for him to leave, he said that he needed to call for a shuttle to return him to the trail head.  Mountain Man and I decided that we would offer to give him a ride back so we could continue our visit.  Hiker gladly accepted our offer of a ride.  His dog ran to the truck and waited to be let in.  The dog actually knew the night before that he was to go for a ride in our truck.  Dogs are very perceptive!  We drove up the mountain to the trail head.  There was a beautiful old stone building on top of the mountain with an overlook with the most breathtaking view I have ever seen.  After taking in the view, and taking some pictures, we sat down and continued our conversation.  Before we knew it, more than two hours had flown by.  Mountain Man's phone rang and on it was our realtor with the good news that we had been waiting for.  Our house was going to close in two hours!  It was a perfect gift to end a perfect day.  We bid our new friend, who by now, we felt as if we had known a lifetime, a fond farewell and headed back to town to prepare for our trip to the attorney's office.

I am really beginning to understand how good mountain living is for me.  The relaxed pace is helping me to realign myself with spirit and open myself on a much deeper level.  Human connections are coming on a much more open and honest plane.  It seems as if Spirit is connecting us with more and more like minded people all the time.  I am beginning to feel that I may be finding my soul purpose here in this new home of ours.