Halloween and Meditation

I wasn't absolutely sure I wanted to go to the "Living In The Present Moment" group. I thought it might be airy-fairy supernatural, which I find boring in the extreme, and/or sob stories by those who don't--live in the present moment, that is. Finally decided to go, however, and I'm glad I did.
The meeting was held at a member's home who lives near Ellen and I had no problem finding the street. As for finding the house, that was a different story. I drove up and down several times and finally had to ask a woman I saw outside. Didn't I have the house number and didn't the houses have numbers? Why, yes, but--they were not in any kind of sequence. I saw 387 and next door was 435; across the street was something like 332, and so on. This is an up-scale neighborhood, with large houses on nicely-landscaped lots, so I simply can't fathom the reason for that. Weird.
Anyway, I found it and walked up to the front door, which was guarded by several life-sized skeletons holding the leashes of two life-sized skeleton dogs. That was just the barest preliminary. The inside was decorated for Halloween in a manner you would never expect to see except maybe in Macy's New York. There were skulls covered with silver, spiders and cobwebs galore, Dracula sitting in an easy chair holding a martini, pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns, witches on brooms, witches in corners, witches that talked and danced, skulls that cackled, orange and black lights, rats and mice, tombstones and full moons, and on the island in the kitchen a huge glass ball--think very large fish bowl--inside of which was a head that talked, laughed, rolled her eyes, and cackled.
Oh, there was so much more and everywhere were garlands and ribbons and floral arrangements in autumn colors, combined with black.
The thing is, NONE of this was cheap crap from the dollar store. It was all obviously expensive and--hard to believe, but believe it--in what might be called over-the-top good taste. You just had to love it and I did.
Funny thing is, Nancy, the homeowner, has grandchildren, but they live in Seattle and have never seen this (which she does every year, adding more and more). Plus, when kids come for treats, she greets them at the door--she doesn't want stranger in her house, I guess. Anyway, it was great to see.
We sat in the back yard patio, a lovely place with fountains, beautiful flowers, and statuary. The facilitator, Joanne, a former counselor (she's 83) opened the gathering by what I suppose is standard: ten minutes of meditation. I don't meditate as a rule, but this was so peaceful and comfortable, I liked it. Beside the hostess, Nancy, Joanne, and me, there were four other women, but darn, I can remember only the names of Judy and Marlene. After we meditated, Joanne gave out printed sheets that had to do with topics such as trying to avoid thinking you must be perfect in order to speak up for something for which you're passionate. We had a good discussion after that and I brought up pacifism and how difficult it is to explain what it actually is and also to avoid being either squelched or acting holier-than-thou.
Well, there was a lot more to it than that, but I won't elaborate. I want to continue with this group, which meets twice a month, as I liked them. Clearly, they're thinkers and I need people like that in my life along with the fun ones.
Called Yvonne at Cypress Place Senior (independent) Living and made a date for lunch there on Tuesday. I'm still not convinced at all this is right for me NOW, but I'm certainly not rejecting it entirely. Looking forward to getting the real lowdown on cost and so on.