To cap off an already stellar, relaxing, enriching and vibrant week at Rancho La Puerta, Sebastian came down on the last day to celebrate with me!

He is there now working this upcoming week and tried to switch with the practitioner there for my birthday week but that didn’t fly so he drove down a day early just to hang with me.  We packed more in to that 20 hours than most friends do in a week.

 

Late afternoon Friday after a full morning of water Ai Chi, Aerobics with Soul (amazing) and crystal bowl meditation I ended up back at my patio perch pretending to be reading but really just taking in the last moments of that sunset view.  I saw bunnies, a roadrunner four more times (the same one following me?), a tribe of quail and the full moon rise.  I suddenly heard a little rustle behind me and quickly pivoted and poof!  There was Sebastian!

Hugs kisses hugs kisses hugs kisses hugs kisses.

It was very close to the dinner bell so we quickly changed clothes (he wore his new pants and shirt yay!) and we went and had a lovely last evening dinner with a group of four women I’d been hanging out with all week.  In their group were two sisters I met last year, same week–Gail and Denise.  Gail of course remembered Sebastian as she had her own life changing session with him during that visit.

Come to think of it, most of my social time this year was with two sets of sisters I’d met last year.  The others were Randy and Terry.  Now that’s kind of interesting.  There was a time in my life I’d have avoided pairs of sisters like that just for the sheer pain of it but I don’t seem to have that reflex anymore.  This is good.

Even though it was the last evening party, we were all exhausted.  Sebastian’s been doing this wild restricted eating program (vegan, no alcohol) this Fall so he couldn’t really eat much and his body is going through it’s own stuff and I was frankly just tired.  It was a very full week.

We finished the meal, said our goodbyes (of course many folks were coming up to Sebastian for hellos and hugs not having seen him all week) and headed back to the room.  We put on our jammies and got under fluffy blankets and headed for the patio where we sat for a couple of hours stretched out on lounge chairs under the full moon catching up on everything.  Sebastian and I are like long lost siblings ourselves–we have a natural ease and comfort around each other, even with the silent spaces.  It’s a pretty unusual and special friendship–one that kicked off like that pretty much from the start.

“Kath, you’re falling asleep, let’s go inside” and as we walked in, freezing now, we forgot we’d planned on lighting a fire.  So he lit it up for us and we sat now again on the sofa talking and drinking herbal tea for another hour or so sinking deeply in to the bright Mexican cushions.

“We better go to bed” he said as I was probably half-talking in my sleep around 11pm.

We crawled in to the King size bed side by side and crashed, comfortably.  Or at least for me as I woke up and Sebastian was on the sofa.  Oh no I’m sure I was snoring I thought.  When he woke up and I asked him he said “no it was the bugs–I was getting eaten alive over there by mosquitos”.  He said his blood is just sweet.  And so is he.  Ok truth be told he did say I was snoring a bit “it wasn’t that bad”, he kindly said. 😉

We made our way down to breakfast and sat outside by the fountain, talking and eating fruit, oatmeal and scrambled eggs.  Sebastian, in his usual gentlemanly way, got me coffee “I put a little mocha in there, thought you might like it”.  A woman approached us wanting to join our table and I was feeling especially selfish with my birthday present so I said “ya know we are engrossed in a private conversation right now so maybe another time?”.  She understood and we were both relieved.  This time was precious and I didn’t want to waste any of it on small talk.  Neither of us are really small talk people anyway, being introverts.

I had left my bathing suit in the locker room so had to go retrieve it so we went there after breakfast and lo and behold right past the Watsu pool which was open and unused.  So…my darling Sebastian offered me an informal partial session and OMG.  It was the best yet.  He kept taking me deeper and longer under the water and I thought maybe I was more tired or something as I was really challenged on the breath part a couple of times.

“No, I was challenging you this time to face some of your blocks.  You were ready for it, so I took you there because you trust me now”.

Boom.

This is a video made by the Wave Academy where Sebastian is a volunteer and they’ve done amazing research on Aquatic therapy and PTSD.  Please take a look. Sebastian is in this video as well.

I was wiped after that but we ended up having to rush back to my room to check out and then to lunch then….”let’s go walk the labyrinth” he said.  Thankfully he reminded me as I’d not walked it the entire week.  We each walked in silence passing twice on the path, the second time we did  a low five grazing each other’s palms.

After walking and doing our wishes, we did a little photo session as the light was just so gorgeous and Sebastian is a photographer and wanted to play in it so we had great fun with that.

As we rambled back to a small shaded area to sit and charge my phone, we saw yet another roadrunner cross the path just feet in front of us.  My grandma loved roadrunners and was always looking for them so I figured she was sending me messages for two days and I was receiving them.   We relaxed and visited until it was time for me to hit the bus at 2:30.  He walked me to the front of the ranch, hugged and kissed a few times then off we went our own separate ways, satiated with deep friendship.

As I walked in to do some business in the Admin building, two of the young women working there, said “you’re so lucky” which of course I am, just being at the Ranch which was I thought they were referring to.  Lucky to have been there all week.  Then I looked at the mischievious or in Spanish travieso looks on their faces and they said “Sebastian”.  They had just seen our affectionate goodbye on the front steps outside and began to tell me how jealous they were.  Hey I get it, I’d be jealous of me too.

He’s of course gorgeous on the outside.  He’s a model (in fact just did a photo shoot the week before) and stunning.  And he’s as beautiful, if not more on the inside.  He’s one of the gentlest, kindest, deepest, most thoughtful and naturally charming men I’ve ever known.

And I’m so fortunate to have met him and call him friend.

I love you Sebastian Skinner.  Now and forever.

(a little more on Sebastian here)