New friends
I was invited to a 70th birthday party yesterday by a new friend, a woman I had met only a handful of times.
I was slightly apprehensive as I pulled up, knowing that I wouldn’t know many of the people there. However, that was unfounded as all were welcoming, wonderful women. I think most of them had met through a healers’ group and so we shared that in common – but it is the energies that I feel in people and there was a lovely, peaceful atmosphere about the whole afternoon. The time slipped by quickly. Added into the mix was delicious food, both prepared by the hostess and brought by the guests. Needless to say, I didn’t need any dinner when I got home, although I did eat more food later on.
I had an interesting conversation with a woman there. She had bought some land in the country and was catching possums in her trap. These pesky creatures can be terrible pests. How we got onto that topic so soon, I don’t know as we had really exchanged only a few words. I told her that I used to trap them years ago. Her biggest problem was killing them after catching them and couldn’t bring herself to do it. Friends had reassured her that it would get easier. I told her that that has become one of my biggest regrets in life and if I could take back that time I would do so. Killing an animal is never a nice thing to do. Before we bought our farm in 1982, my ex-husband and I would trap and shoot the possums during the off-shearing months. At the time, the government was paying a bounty, increasing the price of the skins and so it provided a reasonable winter income. I remember telling the bank manager that we would get x amount of money from the possums when we moved to the Hokianga but was surprised to find that they had not reached that part of Northland at that stage and anyway, when they did, the skins were never as good as they were in colder parts of the country. The government lifted that bounty soon afterwards. Had they kept it, perhaps the possums would never have made it up this way, or certainly not as quickly, as there would have been an incentive for hunters to keep trapping and thus keep the pests at bay. I know they are a real problem these days.
This woman thanked me for sharing my regrets as deep in her heart, she felt that it was not something she wanted to do and was pleased to have someone confirm that they regretted doing it.
We can’t undo things we have done in the past but we can make sure we don’t repeat things that have brought us regret. And we do need to forgive ourselves. And also, we need to listen to our hearts. We have all the answers we’ll ever need deep inside ourselves. And I am sure this new friend will be pleased she is listening to hers.