Doris Meets the Extraordinary

Prologue

We are about to witness a woman meeting the Extraordinary. As unique as this may sound, it isn’t. It might have already happened to you. The Extraordinary is an energy that connects us all. It is the one in charge of serendipity, miracles, coincidences, healing, love, salvation, and everything else that surrounds us. You may feel it, see it, and enjoy it. It’s wise, loving, always present, joyful, omnipotent, and forgiving. We have called it God, the Creator, Source, Love, Energy, Mother Earth, and other names throughout our history.

Doris Montgomery is our girl. Her encounters with the Extraordinary have occurred since the day she was born. This is their history, one about love, surrender, appreciation, trust, and forgiveness.

“Follow your heart, Doris. No matter where it takes you.” She remembers her mother's words with a little smile on her face. Every day is one more day with the certainty that has accompanied her since she was little, the same that she has trusted in.

Occasionally, she doubts the Extraordinary. She questions if it’s a justification for staying positive and always in search of information. Her love for learning new things and her eagerness to let the Extraordinary manifest makes her spend most of her free time reading books on all possible subjects as well as attending talks. She wants to relate with someone in her experience.

Her passion leads her to meet a lot of people that know the Extraordinary. At first, she isn't confident talking about her own experience. Over time, it is more comfortable connecting with others. She recognizes herself quickly in others, so she begins to question the doubt instead of her relationship with the Extraordinary.

This is what happens every time we change paradigms in our lives. We start questioning what looked written in stone, and then we go to the place of possibilities, the most joyful place we can be—and the most uncertain one.

Chapter 1

Dark Clouds, Bright Sun

Doris was twenty-one, in Paris, and living the dream. In the silence of her being was a loneliness of the heart. It had been there for a while now. It was a dark hole that devoured everything good that happened in her life. She only seemed to escape it when she was cooking. Otherwise, she needed more entertainment, more excitement, more partying, more alcohol—more of everything to make her forget that she wasn't happy at all.

That was how she met Henry. She was out in a friend of a friend's apartment. He entered, and they clicked. Both laughed like they had been friends forever. After that night, they became inseparable. They went to movies, to new restaurants, and to bars. They supported each other in their romances. They were both having flings very often.

Then one night, Henry told her he was leaving. He wanted to tour around Europe. His plan was to travel and keep working. He only needed his computer with him. He was a dreamer. She wanted to dream, so she kissed him, and he responded. They ended up sleeping together. Then they traveled together and became a couple in their third week of travel. Neither of them questioned if they wanted it. It was just the next thing to do. They were good friends who took care of each other and helped to mend each other’s broken hearts.

Henry was so charming and funny, and he made Doris’s life easy and smooth. It was always full of excitement, parties, and new friends in every town; he was almost like honey to friends. He didn't drink or use drugs. He was just funny, intelligent, and easygoing. He worked as a culinary critic, so his life was full of invitations, parties, and restaurants, and she was part of all that. He was young but well-connected and had a growing reputation.

They came back and settled in Paris for a year. She already had gained a lot of experience, so she got an excellent job in a small restaurant where she became the pastry chef. That was easy. But when she was able to spend more time apart from Henry, she started to gain sobriety. She asked herself, What do I want?

One night, she was lying next to him. She stared at him while he was sleeping, and she couldn't turn off the warning bell. She was totally sober from him, and she realized they had never been in love. It all had been two persons in need who got together. She felt chills running through her body. What kind of person was she? She was faking love for another person.

Then a scarier thought came through. Maybe I've been pretending love to myself. That thought scared her even more than not loving the man she had been dating, living with, and saying "I love you" to.

They had fun together and with their friends—well, his friends. But they didn't have that thing that she knew she wanted: the warmness. She had forgotten about that. She wanted that. She had thought, with time, the warmness would come, and everything would be all right. The truth was that, with time, they became roomies who had sex, went out as a couple, and laughed a lot. They loved each other, but not in a romantic way. Loneliness was a scary thing, and when they found each other, that was the perfect fix.

She wanted more. Her time in the kitchen had reminded her of that. When an essential part of her life came alive, she’d discovered that she wished everything else were in the same harmony. She decided that night: she wanted warmness and harmony in her whole life.

Once we decide, the Extraordinary makes the arrangements. Over the next days, Henry started to act weird and anxious, and he was constantly in a bad mood. That next week, Doris came out of work early and took dinner with her. She surprised Henry with a new vinyl and their favorite red wine. He seemed surprised in the wrong way when he saw the table set. She almost felt he wanted to go for a run and never come back.

"Henry, what's happening? You can talk to me."

"It's just that I'm starting to feel this place is too small for me. I mean the city. I want to move out."

"I understand. Henry, I don't want to move."

"I know. That's why I've been so anxious because I know you are happy here. Then I feel I need to stay because you stayed in Europe for me."

"Tell me: what do you really want? After all, we are friends, remember?" She extended to him her little finger.

"Always the truth, and nothing more than the truth," they said at the same time, laughing. They were good friends. That was never in doubt.

"I want to go to London, and I want you to stay here. I know you are in your zone here."

"I want to stay, and I want you to go wherever you want to go."

"Do you hate me?"

"Hell no. This was easier than what I thought it would be. I love you, but I think our thing is off. What do you think?"

"Yes, you are right. I've been having these feelings and questions. I thought I was making excuses so I could run to London without guilt. But yes, our thing is off. I love you too."

They hugged each other for a long time, took the wine, and went out to their little balcony. They watched the stars and talked about their relationship.

"I'm gonna miss you," she said.

"Me too," he replied.