10 days. 1250 miles. One car. One broken TomTom. One wee lassie fae Leith driving…

And really it all began 18 months ago when I wrote a post about something I dreamed of doing – meeting the people whose blogs I have read.

Since then, some of the people I mentioned back then stopped blogging (as far as I know at least) and discovered many other people online I’d like to call ‘friend’. In the last 2 years I’ve very briefly met Alastair, had ice cream meet up with Connor, finally found Lindsay & Ruth at a women’s conference, my friends met Marla at Q and managed to find Mike Foster so he could pass on a Scottish package to Lori, I became the Payne Family’s tour guide and Ruth has connected with Carolyn and even managed to have coffee with her in Cardiff a few weeks ago.

A mixture of nerves and excitement fuelled the plans as people offered me places to stay or said they’d like to meet up. Unfortunately I didn’t get to everybody, but as I look back over the last 10 days I’m amazed at all I managed to cram into that time.

I’m even more amazed that I didn’t get lost too much, especially after the demise of the Sat-Nav.

I feel so inspired from the people I met, the things I got to see, the stories I got to hear. I feel so privileged that to have had the opportunity to experience the last 10 days. It has been one of the best experiences of my life so far.

Really & truly.

The best part about the trip was how everyone just went with the flow, and that when I stayed with people…there seemed to be no pretences. They just let me take them as I found them, and vice versa. I was never stressed out, and I hope my visit didn’t cause stress for them either. And I loved that. I loved that we just sat exhausted on the sofa eating pizza. That I got to be part of their kids bedtime routine or they felt fine to leave me while they put their kids to bed (actually usually that gave me opportunity to blog) or they wanted to find the perfect stripey top or they had a chance to do some chores when I was struggling to keep my eyes open and was forced back to bed! I literally got to walk into people’s lives just as they are.

And I feel refreshed for it.

(ok, after driving lots and not sleeping brilliantly over the last few weeks from experiencing unusually warm humid weather for the UK, I’m a bit zonked out today…but still. Emotionally I feel inspired, encouraged, and therefore, refreshed in that way. My hair could also do with being washed – it didn’t take well to England’s hard water!)

So I just want to thank you… Flinderella, the Payne family, everyone at the pregnancy centre in Norwich, Karry from The Grove, the Beaton family, Nicola & Ben Hulks, Hannah Prittie, the Gill family and everyone else at i61 church !

You guys made the 100s of miles of driving so worth it. And I hope it won’t be too long until I see you again soon.