~How We Met~
(OUR's Healing Sanctuary with Labyrinth)
We’ve been writing a series leading up to the story of how we met. We were each on our own journeys and the universe deemed fit for us to Converge and see what came of it!
As fate would have it in perfect timing to write the story of how we met, I stumbled on this contest last night - Tell us the story of how you met! Love it when things happen like that!
The last story left off when I left Emerald Earth Ecovillage on my bike and was heading North over the border into British Columbia to visit OUR Ecovillage (stands for One United Resource).
Biking my way up the Pacific coast on a solo journey stopping at communities along the way and being near the Ocean the entire time was such a liberating experience.
Right before crossing the border I had just written,
The past few days have felt like an end preparing for another beginning. I feel hints of entering a community of some sort, whether for a few days, a week, a month, and filling up my reserves of tribe.
As I wrote about in the first installment of my bike journey, I had gotten in touch with a man living at OUR ecovillage through the Natural Building group on Facebook …
He said, You should come up to OUR Ecovillage, we’re doing lots of natural building here.
Such a simple statement, but when I read it, the energy in the room shifted. It literally got more ripply and slightly foggy… I thought, Woah, I’ll have to keep that place on my list!
I knew I needed to visit this place!
Crossing the border was fun and I enjoyed going on all the ferries.
Always meeting such cool people as I travel along...
Not being one for hotel rooms and preferring anyway to sleep outside nearly every night, I learned while on the ferry over that Victoria was very “civilized” and there weren’t any places to camp on the island. Luckily I synchronistically met these two sweet folks on the ferry ride and they invited me to sleep in their house and share a meal with them.
We talked into the night and it was fun. I love the open hearted generous interesting people we meet along our journeys!
The next morning, I set off enjoying the lush landscapes of the island. My compass was pointed toward the ecovillage and I was riding on the side of the highway. Immediately I noticed how much friendlier Canadians are to road cyclists! People gave me way more space than they did in the States! This endeared me to the Canadians- such polite people, I thought.
(source)
I remember poignantly a moment I stopped and check in about whether or not to go to the village. I was feeling some conflicting emotions about it and stopped on the side of the highway. I felt a mixture of Yes go and No don’t go! It was very confusing! Ultimately, I made the decision to Go for it! Soon enough I took another ferry to cross onto Vancouver Island to make it to the tiny village of Shawnigan Lake.
I ended up getting very lost and was feeling anxious as night was approaching and I was having trouble navigating the circuitous roads. Luckily a cyclist stopped for me and helped point me in the right direction.
(source)
On the right track, I finally made it to my destination. The entrance welcomed me to what was sure to be a magical experience.
As I came in to the village, I was immediately greeted by two people who were working on a cob building. Hands dirty and piling prepared cob onto the top of the wall and massaging it in, they gave me a hearty welcome and one, Annabelle, offered to give me a tour of the village and show me the tent area where I could put my stuff to sleep.
I walked up to a table in the outdoor dining area and there I met the farm team, which was also my first time meeting Ini. I didn’t really think much of the encounter, until he asked me to take a walk through the gardens….
Now we'll switch over and let Ini tell his side of the story....
I had just begun my time as farm manager and ecological educator at O.U.R. and the world was on fire for me. I was meeting such great folks, beginning this wonderful opportunity and my life felt joyous and full of possibility. I had long since wanted to live and work in a community setting and had a pulsing desire to learn more about the integration of perennial plants into my sphere which has been mostly annual gardening until this point. I was being exposed to so many new things and new possibilities were opening up.
(Ini is in the back!)
The fateful event occurred when I was on my way back from seeding some crops in the garden. New arrivals at the ecovillage were a near daily occurrence, but there was one particular individual who caught my attention immediately when she arrived. I looked over at the table where my fellow farm team was seated and I saw a gorgeous, ruddy & sweaty young woman in bike shorts. Hmm, I wonder where she came from?
Synchronistically I had a tarot reading a week prior that showed me meeting a life partner in the near future. Could this be her? There was a strong feeling of attraction I had to this woman, very strong. I sat down and started chatting and was further intrigued to learn that she had ridden up the coast alone on her bicycle. I knew immediately that this woman was very special indeed, one who I must get to know better.
I thought a tour of the gardens would be a good place to dive into our shared interested in plants. We wandered through the beautiful gardens talking about plants, our stories and even touching on life philosophies. I’m usually not very forward with women who I am attracted to, but there was something rising in me as I spent time with this very special woman. I knew I needed to connect with her and show her my unique and true self somehow. Something came to me that I hadn’t ever considered before. As we walked past the vermiculture (worm composting) system, I asked if she wanted to eat a worm with me. We looked at each other and she said Yes. It felt like an epic step. I picked out a worm for each of us, thanked the little wriggler for its life and proceeded to chow down.
(first pic i ever took of Ini- Whirling dervish!)
The moment of squish where our molars met and the oddly metallic worm tickled the tongue was one I will never forget. There was magic in that moment, something bigger going on. It felt like it solidified something. From that moment on, I knew I had to court this woman with all my heart and soul and that this was certainly someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I wasn’t sure how long she was planning on staying, but I knew I wanted to make a good impression and wanted her to stick around...
(first pic of us together..)
From Wren: I thought he must ask all the girls to eat a worm!
Stay tuned for the next segment of the story to see how the budding romance unfolded at OUR Ecovillage....
