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When we take a step out of the zone where we feel our most comfortable, wonderful opportunities present themselves, often in abundance. Opportunities in which to learn which then lead to growth. They can set us on a path (or paths) that we may not have thought about following or even considered to be a possibility. The truth is we constantly surprise ourselves.
I remember, many years ago a passing comment that I made to Ben. We had not long moved into our humble weatherboard home when I said, "I want to have the kind of home where people want to come to ours for long lunches and dinners." Back then our kitchen was not much bigger than a postage stamp. There were random doorways with no doors. Natural breezeways snaked their way through the floor, making our ankles frigid. A garden that was alive in my imagination but in reality was a mess of dirt, debris, and weeds. Fast forward some 11 years later and that garden, with the seeds of imagination, has bloomed and grown. So too has that 20-something-year-old who dreamt of having a home where food would be at the centre, shared with family and friends.
In fact, it has gone quite beyond that, for that young woman would not have dreamt of opening up her home to people she didn't know or had never met IRL (in real life). If someone had told her that one day she would have 6 people from Instagram over to her house for a three-course lunch and collaborate with a gorgeous young florist whom she met at an afternoon tea event for her own book in Sydney at someone's house who she also had never met "IRL" I would have given them a very perplexed look indeed.
But there it is a prime example of life's many surprises, of the twists and turns and the power of manifestation. As I sat at our large timber table for the Spring Lunch event on Sunday with Petrina, Sophie, Susan, Hannah, Di, and Chris sharing food and conversation I could not have been happier. I am so thankful to each and every one of them for stepping out of their comfort zones to take a seat at my table with people who arrived as strangers but who were farewelled like old friends. That's where the magic lies.
