mystical santa barbara connection

my connection to santa barbara is filled with mystique and wonder and the longer i live here, the more i believe in pre destiny as a force the brought me here.  the story behind my move here is filled with profound meaning to me.  about 5 1/2 years ago, living in eugene  where i'd been divorced for 5 years and finally healed from that and psychically ready to move on with my life, i took my son and his friend sam over to the oregon coast for a surf trip as a christmas gift.  sleeping next to the sea, i had a dream that i believe came from the spirit of the ocean. in the dream i was about to enter a sauna but when i looked through the window and saw all the hairy, down and out male hippies of eugene, i was unable to enter back into that world and in my despair a voice came to me and said "go to santa barbara, your new life is waiting for you there".  when the boys awoke i told stew we were moving there and being a surfer he was thrilled.
two weeks later we took a road trip here and as soon as we entered santa barbara on 101 i felt- this is it. we decided to check all the beaches for surf spots. as we drove along shoreline drive up to the mesa there was a sense of familiarity about being here, like a deja vu, though i had never been here in my life except one overnight trip with my parents when i was 2 years old. well, let me tell you about another dream, a recurring one i've had my entire life since a very young girl; a dream i've had a hundred times.  in this dream i am going along a stretch of coast identical to the shoreline drive and i am seeking my beloved who lives in a house on a cliff.  but i never made it to him in my dreams and it was so disheartening.  i even had this dream in the 15 years i was married which is a little emabarassing but i'm baring all here.
anyway, that day was magical and at the top of the shoreline we turned toward the beach access and parked on cooper st. and headed down the long stairs that i now live by and walk nearly every day.  resting at the bottom was a very old man, named john cooper, from oregon who, i found out later, casey had tried to fix up with his mom. john cooper asked me where my husband was and i said i didn't have one and he said "you will".
i bought a newspaper and while at the beach while stew was surfing i circled some rentals and decided to check them out. the first one i looked at, which i found in a flukey way because it's on a one block street, was owned by casey and to make a long story short, when he came over to show it to me it was love at first sight. i rented the adorable duplex and moved in 2 weeks later.
i stopped having that dream about seeking my beloved because i found him and we are together here on a cliff living the dream. we live on the ocean- the same one who's spirit told me casey and my life were calling me.
well to top this all off, i just found out this week that my maternal grandparents lived here from 1933-1937 just before my mother was born (maybe she was even conceived here). my grandfather was a harvard medical school graduate and had a practice here.  because casey has all these old records from his own grandfather, who was a realtor, we were able to track down his house and office.  my grandparents went to the same church as casey's grandparents and we are convinced they knew each other since, at the time, it was a small town of only 5,000 people.
yesterday i went to visit his house and office, which is 2 doors up from my bank and the church is right across the street.  i swear i felt their energy during my visits yesterday. 
in one word santa barbara has been HEALING for me in countless ways.
here are the photos-

this was their house.  they had 3 young children. my granny lois was really into sewing and tennis~

this is the entrance to the courtyard where papa's office was.  it's right on state st.  

here's the front door to his office

he had a nice spot with this courtyard just outside

and lush flowers

i wonder if he planted this camelia

there is a nice dentist here now for the past 30 years and this is the waiting room

here's the episcopal church both our sets of grand parents attended.



when people ask me where i'm from and how i ended up here, it's never a simple answer but i always finish by telling them i feel like i'm coming back to my roots.  imagine my suprise at finding out how literal this is! it makes me marvel at the unseen forces at work in our lives.  i bet there's more to come with all this.