part 2

I had to re-schedule a stained glass class that I was scheduled  to teach at the community school at the end of my street. I moved it back a week trusting that I would be attending the retreat.  I was a bit concerned if they would let me move it since several people had signed up already and it was suppose to begin the week of the retreat.  They were very understanding and said no problem and allowed me to move it back a week.  I still didn't know if I was going or not but knew if I was, this would have to be done.

I didn't hear anything for several days and then a week went by and another few days and I thought, I really need to know if I got the scholarship because I have to make arrangements, a place to stay, etc.  So I called again and didn't get anyone and left a message on the general mailbox.  No one called me back for a few days so I called again.  I got Roseanne again. I explained that I had applied for the scholarship and hadn't heard back and could she tell me the status?  She said because it was the first time that they offered one, my name had gone to three people and had fallen through the cracks. She was glad that I called back in. She instructed me that if ever more than one or two days went by, to call back because they always tried to respond with 24 hours. She said she would get right back to me. She called the next day and told me that I was awarded the scholarship.  I cried again.

So now I am signed up for the retreat and have to figure out how to get there, where to stay.  I still didn't have much money but my partner was willing to help me any way that he could...he was so happy for me because he knew how much I wanted to go.  Things between us were getting much better, at least we were talking again.

Then I had two sales come in the last week of March!  I know it was because I was doing Master Sha's chanting and asking for financial blessings.  It was enough to catch up on my bills and give me money for room and board in Toronto.  Remember, I hadn't had a single sale all year long...times are tough for everybody out there and I was working N. California and Hawaii and N. CA was the first to be hit with the housing crisis. No one wanted to spend any money on software, or anything else. All I heard all day long on the phone was how they had freezes on spending money on anything that wasn't absolutely necessary or laying people off, struggling to keep their doors open, etc.

I called a friend in Toronto that I thought I might be able to stay with.  His phone was disconnected. I had some other friends that lived an hour north of Toronto but they were away on vacation. I wasn't sure what to do so I went back to the site and there was a roommate list posted for those that wanted to share a room.  I thought to myself that maybe that would be better because having traveled extensively during my work career and having attended many trade shows in my 20 year career in the software industry, I knew it was better to stay at the hotel where the event was held so I could go to my room when I wanted and wouldn't have to drive.  I added my name to the roommate list and waited a few days. No one contacted me.  Yet I just knew that the Universe/God was going to send me the perfect roommate.  I still got worried and started to email to a couple of the women listed.  The first one never did reply to my email.  The second one said she was waiting to hear back from someone else so didn't know yet.  I was thinking, what am I going to do? I can't afford a room by myself. I contacted a third one and it was the one that the second one was waiting to hear back from so she said the same thing, that she had already been contacted by someone so they were planning to stay together, they just kept missing each other to work out the details.  There wasn't anyone else on the list that needed the same dates as me.  Only those that wanted a roommate for one night or had different arrival/departure dates.

Oh me of little faith, I called the hotel and made a reservation on my own.  Then a new name came on the roommate list.  I called her immediately. She was suppose to room with someone else and plans had changed so she now needed a roommate after all. She was from Sudbury, Canada and her boyfriend was driving her to Toronto and then she would drive back with someone from the retreat. So I had to get a room by myself for the first night. Good thing I already had a reservation!  I called up and changed the reservation to just one night.  The roommate coordinator called me the next day and said she thought I should call H to see if we could room together.  I told her I already had! Of course H turned out to be the perfect roommate. More on that later.  Her story is worth a chapter on its own.