Crossing paths

(Belated post)

17th of March; St. Patricks day. I’ve never really been into celebrating it much, so this year isn’t any different. The thing that’s marking it however, this time round, is a friend who is staying with us. He’s from New Zealand (living in Australia), travelling Europe and making a stop here at 136 Knockmore, Arklow Co. Wicklow (which is where I live). I worked with Mark on the melon farm in Australia in 2007. We’ve been in contact through Facebook for a while and when it just so happened that I was back in Ireland and he was hopping from country to country, it seemed the only thing for him to do was to hop to Ireland too.

A crazy world it then seems to be; crossing paths with people who I never ever imagined to see again. This really is the case. When saying goodbye to the people we meet along our travels, we often say; ‘we’ll meet again’. But not always do we actually EXPECT to meet again, or EXPECT either of us to go ‘out of our way’ to make it happen! But Mark did go out of his way, and now, 5 years down the line, he purposely came to Ireland to visit me, here at home in Arklow. And the world really is a tiny place.

Another thing happened only yesterday (Friday) that just proves my point. We went to Dublin for the day. On Thursday I was just randomly thinking of a guy I met in the ashram in India back in September. Eoin. He’s from Dublin and studying at Trinity college (the most well-known college in Ireland, right in the heart of Dublin). As I was thinking of him, I wondered if I should get in touch, maybe to meet up the following day. We got along great and having him at the ashram was like a having a little piece of Ireland and home with me. When we said goodbye to each other, of course we said ‘we should arrange to meet when we’re both in Ireland!’

Now, honestly, at that point in time I wasn’t thinking at all about heading back to Ireland. I figured I’d be travelling at least until the end of 2012, so actually meeting him in Dublin was the furthest thing from my mind! I also never expected to WANT to meet up with somebody I’d met along my travels, not back on the home front anyhow; because when you’re on the road you connect differently with people than when you’re back at your ‘base’ and to meet them again can sometimes take away the fond memories you shared with that person, the memories that had been ‘made’ on the other side of the world.

Either way, on Thursday I wondered whether to contact him. But I decided against it. With Mark being here, I didn’t think the timing was right. I let the notion fly and figured if we’re destined to meet, it would happen, because I personally wasn’t going to go to any lengths to get in touch (I know that sounds really harsh and it’s nothing personal against Eoin, but it just wasn’t a priority for me).

So, on Friday we went up to Dublin to see some of the amazing sights of the city! We walked around in the rain - the Irish weather will never fail to let us down…haha - and we went to a few museums. As we were walking around Trinity, of course I secretly hoped I’d bump into Eoin. And 30 minutes later, just when the hopes of seeing him had been dampened by the drizzle, suddenly there he was, leaning against the wall, talking on his phone. Wouw! Blast from the past and yes yes yes it was fate! It was the craziest thing to have happened!

I walked up and as he saw me his eyes sprung out of his sockets, he started shouting down the phone to whoever was on the other end; ‘oh my god, this is fate! I’ve gotta hang up!’ With that, we both squealed in excitement, gave each other the biggest hug and the most abbreviated versions of both of our lives. Then we exchanged numbers in between 5 hugs and ended the random meeting with a promise to see each other properly sometime soon. And that was the high light of my day! I was so excited. In the middle of the dark, cloudy and wet Dublin city, I bumped into a guy I met in the southern tropics of India… so unexpected… but it wasn’t by chance.

As I’ve said before, I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. Everything happens for a reason. I reckon I already know the reason for meeting Eoin like that. It’s probably because I was never going to go ‘out of my way’ to get in touch with him and arrange a meeting – for being too wary of not getting along in the same manner as we did when we were in the ashram. But some forces brought our paths to cross, without either of us putting in any effort… meaning we were meant to meet again! And the way we both responded to each other was confirmation enough of there still being a friendship, regardless of where we are or what we’re doing in life. Oh, and I might just add, there’s not a inkling of a romantic vibe between us AT ALL, as it’s impossible when both people fall for the same gender ;)

I just LOVE the way the world works!