Today I went to visit my Mum & Dad, I wanted to see them before I left for India on Monday. My Mum & Dad are very well travelled. We have chatted about many things around travel including what to pack. My Mums' good advice is, only pack things that you don't mind never seeing again. She tells the story of sitting on an areoplane, at Loudes Airport, France watching out the window as her suitcase was being loaded onto another areoplane! She knew it was her case because (another piece of good advice) she always tied a coloured ribbon to her case. Luckily, believe it or not, she did actually get to see that case again.

So as usual we had a wonderful discussion not only about travel, but about life experiences. Our chat today cemented for me, once again, how it is no "accident" that you are where you are, right now in your life. It is no "accident" that I am about to leave for India with my Beautiful husband, who I went to high school with, & his best mate Vaughn, who I was in school with from grade 2! It is no "accident" that myself & my 3 siblings exist! Although, we quite easily may have not when you listen to the story. I am sure my parents wont mind me telling it?

My Mum was given the oppourtunity to have a few pen friends while at school. My Dad, in Dublin Ireland was one of them. They wrote backwards & forwards for 2 or 3 years, until my Dad decided he was going to become a Cistercian Monk. (yep, my Dad was a Cistercian Monk) A few years later Dad came to Australia with his community, to, of all the places in Australia, Tarrawarra in the Yarra Valley. He was asked to write to anyone he knew in Australia, so he wrote to tell my Mum. My Mum & her family did visit Dad one time.

After a number of years my Dad decided to leave, once again he wrote to tell my Mum he was leaving the community of Tarrawarra Abbey, & would most likely eventually return to Ireland.

A few months later my Mum was waving goodbye to a group of her friends as they left for a holiday on a cruise ship. She was with a friend. She thought she heard Irish accents, from a group standing near by, & even thought she regognised my Dad. She sent her friend, who had Irish family, to walk past & listen to their accents, which she did, & confirmed that indeed they were Irish. She then caught my Dads eye....they went to the movies....& my Dad never went back to Ireland to live. I LOVE this story! How wonderful is it?

So, it can be very interesting to look back over our lives so far & the path we have followed as it wove its way in & around all our experiences. Are there no "accidents"? what do you think?