So, this weird thing happened…

You are one positive change, one new choice, or one unexpected chance away from a different way of life. Hold on tight and don’t let go. Rediscover the original story that has been inside you all along.

Christine E. Szymanski

I know, I know.

You’re going to say to me, ‘Nicole, weird things ALWAYS seem to happen to you!’, and I guess that would be true.

But even so, this one was weird.

I had just finished my morning meditation. It was about 5am, and I was still sitting cross-legged on the floor, in that quiet dawn energy of suburbia. As I sat, surrounded by packing boxes – some from the farm, some from here in our Brisbane home, and some still unsorted from the estate of Ben’s mum – I was overtaken by doubt.

It’s too late now. We’ve sold the farm. We’ve bought a treehouse. I have dates. 26 of February to be off the farm. 5 of March to settle the treehouse. Everything in my life is about to change. But instead of feeling excited, today I felt panic. I felt doubt. The feelings were overwhelming and unexpected, and I found myself unable to break free of them.

I sat there on the floor, swamped by my thoughts.

Honk, honk, honk.

It was loud. It wasn’t a car. Honk, honk, honk.

Honk, honk, honk.

I got up. (Amazing!)

I sprang to the window, and looked out.

Nothing.

Honk, honk, honk. Honk, honk, honk.

So LOUD!

I ran downstairs in my nightdress, threw open the door and flew outside.

There was an enormous white goose marching down the middle of the road.

Huh? It was like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

The goose marched right by me and kept going. Honk, honk, honk.

At the far end of the street, from where the goose had just come, sprang a tall thin man in striped pyjamas.

“Guinan! Guinan, come back here!!!” he yelled, as he ran after the goose.

He kept shouting ‘Guinan’, the goose kept honking, but she also slowed from a fast march to an amble, and then she stopped, mounted the pavement and went over to nibble on a patch of grass.

“Guinan the Goose,’ the man said as he ran past me. He caught up to her, swooped her up into his arms, and then began walking back up the street towards me.

‘Guinan? From Star Trek?’ I asked him as he got level with where I was still standing.

‘Yep.’ He grinned, and then extracted one arm from around the goose and gave the Vulcan hand sign. ‘Live long and prosper,’ he said.

I raised my hand in return, in the Vulcan way, and repeated, ‘Live long and prosper.’

The man walked back up the street with the goose under his arm.

I went back inside the house and made a pot of coffee. And as I did I found myself laughing uncontrollably. Did that really just happen?

When I sat down at my desk to journal, it suddenly came to me. Star Trek is all about bravely exploring new galaxies. Thanks, Guinan. Thanks, stripey pyjama-ed neighbour. Transmission heard and understood.

Feeling much better about all these major life changes, Nicole xx

PS – Isn’t Guinan the Goose an excellent name!

PSS – Yes, I am a closet Trekkie…