Manifestation: a love story

I hiked 9 miles with my wedding dress rolled up in my backpack and married the love of my life at 45 years old.

Before sharing some of the details of the wedding (which was epic!) I’d love to rewind back to 11 years ago….

I was a single mom of 3 kids, living in southern California running my own business as a personal trainer. I was actively dating and desperately wanting to find my man. 

Every night before falling asleep I would listen to the song Marry Me by Jason Derulo (don’t judge) I would close my eyes and feel my future husband. I couldn't see him, but I could feel how he loved me and I loved him, I could feel the safety, the commitment and the playfulness of our relationship. In the vision, we were dancing our first dance as husband and wife at our wedding and I was in looovee, my sister and my daughter were there and they were so happy for me. It felt so real to me, I was sure it would happen in the next few months lol. 

Well, it took a little longer than a few months.. 11 years later, what I envisioned on my bed in Cali fully manifested and with so much more amazingness than I could have imagined. It was worth the wait.

Sometimes when we have a desire for something to happen in our life, we can tend to get impatient, so we settle for less or we lose trust in the process or lack the understanding of everything that needs to be healed or cleared in our life to actually be a vibrational match to what we are trying to call in.  Whether it’s a job, a lover or money, there is usually a process that we need to go through to manifest it and most people want to skip that part lol. We think the “destination” is everything and forget that the journey is the best part. 

There is a saying that I love “If the journey is not the destination then you are doing it wrong”

Looking back, I have so much love and appreciation for 11 years ago Kari. She held the vision, despite her naiveness of all she was going to have to look at within herself that needed to be healed and forgiven. All the relationships she would go through that showed her mostly what she DIDN’T want in a man/a relationship. The depths of her loneliness that she didn’t shy away from but rather dropped into and allowed the endless tears to flow. The journey was also filled with magic and playful memories with friends and lovers that make for great (sometimes embarrassing) stories. She attended retreats, hired coaches, went to workshops, and sat in countless plant medicine ceremonies to help her understand herself more. 

The journey was a doozy. 

It was full of heartache, betrayal, fear, loneliness, laughter, flirting, confusion, bliss, connection, disconnection, love, hate, lust.

And I wouldn’t change one second of it.

It led  me to serendipitously connecting with my Beloved 3 years ago, in the most unexpected way and time. 

Spirit knows I LOVE to be surprised and delighted. 

Now, to share about why I rolled my wedding dress up in a backpack and hiked 9 miles to get married… why not?!?

Reason #1 The trail we got married on is beyond words special to both of us, and hiking it is our favorite thing to do together.

Reason #2 We love doing things different from the norm

Reason #3 The day/the trail, represented our journeys of finding each other.. Full of work, endurance, navigation, fun, challenging, long, beautiful but once you get to the end, it’s worth it! 

Reason #4 It was important to us to create an experience for our friends and family that included nature, connection and play.. All things that we love.

So we did just that, we took our loved ones on an adventure.. they soaked in the magic of the trees and the trail, squirrels followed us, crows cawed and hovered above us, we wadded through thigh high water in a canyon, picked mushrooms and ended in fairyland, where the  fairies allowed us into their home for us to Wed. (I told you, it was full of magic!)

After my daughter, sister and son’s girlfriend helped me put on my dress and crown (a forever favorite memory)  I walked, hand in hand with my youngest son and my daughter through the forest to my friends, family and future husband. White rose petals covered the ground. All 3 of my children gave me a kiss, representing their approval of the Union. Then I turned and gazed into my man's eyes.

They were full of love. 

Love for me, love for my kids, love for life. 

I. Felt. So. Blessed!! 

I had a perma-grin the entire ceremony. 

My oldest son officiated the wedding and did a phenomenal job. It meant so much to us to have him guide the ceremony and to pronounce us husband and wife. We then had our first dance together, in magical fairyland, with our loved ones around us, including my sister and daughter. It was my vision 11 years ago being manifested! It was exactly what I felt but better! 

The love is deeper.

The connection and respect is stronger.

He is my best friend, he gets me, he supports me, he cheers me on. 

It was worth the wait. 

I’m thankful I trusted the process and the divine timing. 

I appreciate the journey and all the twists and turns along the way.

I share all of this, in hopes that if you are in a process of desiring something but it’s not here yet, that it will inspire you to continue to hold the vision and enjoy the journey of uncovering and discovering, sprinkled with moments of being surprised and delighted as you manifest your highest desires and dreams. 

Be patient. It’s worth the wait!