Friday, May 25
Three rainbows, three sunsets, one sunrise, the top of Haleakala, and over 130 feet
underwater in a submarine later…
As we’ve reached the last leg of our expedition to paradise, our pilgrimage to
Maui, the blogs become fewer. I can see
how many views I’ve gotten, and they’re only a handful. No one’s reading. It’s normal, shows the attention span we all
have when reading online, but is still very much discouraging. I’ve learned as a writer to write well, write
purposefully and with passion no matter how few people are reading along. The product I create is beautiful in its own
way and will always be there, even if it doesn’t have many visitors at the
moment. Most importantly, this pilgrimage
to paradise is a special one between God, nature, and me. I cannot hope to be one with my source if I’m
bitching about my readership and response levels! God doesn’t walk on roads like that, so it’s
a waste of my spirit.
The submarine ride was incredible! I cannot tell you how amazing it is to plunge beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean and "swim" among so many varieties of fish, coral, even a passing stingray. Our sub went about a mile out from shore, and there in about 130 feet of water, we watched out big windows as so many sea creatures allowed us to visit them in their natural habitat. Our host joked that outside the sub's windows, the fish are reminded to not knock on the windows. We on the sub, he said, were now the creatures inside the aquarium walls, and the fish were watching us! It was so, so, so cool!
The beautiful nature I’ve seen here cannot be seen anywhere else on the
planet. Sure there are volcanoes and
mountains and seas and flowers and even rainbows all over the world, but the
type of landscape here, the variety of flowers unique to this land, the
particular spirit of the Hawaiian people and all of its flora and fauna cannot
be reproduced or rediscovered elsewhere.
So when you visit a place like this, it’s like unlocking a part of your
soul you didn’t even know you had, a new part of yourself and your connection
to the divine which is a revelation even to the person who holds it. My spirit is reawakened here with the
realization that no matter where I travel, what I see and who I encounter,
there are always going to be new lands to see and discover. My spirit, like yours, is only as open as we
let it be, only in bloom as much as we allow it to be, only truly alive when we
cast it to the wind and conquer this world’s unknown adventures with every last
drop of our heart and soul.
Saturday, May 26
Today Andy and I hiked through Iao Valley, a lush rainforest on Maui’s west
side, filled with soaring green pinnacles that wave like the ocean. Waterfalls and streams are heard and seen all
around you, and you feel the inescapable privilege of being in this holy place. We then headed up the coast
to return to one of our favorite spots, Ho’okipa Beach, the windsurfing capital
of the world. It’s a gorgeous spot to
watch surfers and windsurfers alike conquer the vicious waves with aplomb. Just to the north side of this beach are
rocks which invite you forward past the fences, so we finally decided to climb down them to the sea. Their Siren calls were just too much for me,
and as I stood among them, blown away by the views around me, I felt the water
gently pelting my face like a mother blowing in a child’s ear. Perfection.
A day or two earlier we were in an outdoor café in upcountry Makawao, where the
owner reminded us as a similarly whispy drizzle gently stroked our cheek that
it wasn’t drizzling—it was mystifying. Love that!
So there we were on the rocks near the surfers of Ho’okipa Beach as it began
mystifying gently. But for the first
time on our trip, this mystical, mystifying Maui mist became closer to a
not-so-spiritual spritz, and annoyingly so too!
I ran up the rocks and slipped a bit in the dirt, and my sneakers and legs
bore the grunt of my escape. No pain or
problem, just inconvenience as I reached the car and knew I needed a shower and
sneaker clean once we got back to the condo.
I breathed an exhausted sigh of relief to just be back in the dry car. But as if Mother Nature knew in that moment that I needed a de-stressing reminder I was in paradise, we
received not one but TWO gorgeous rainbows that wrapped from land to land
across the horizon as we drove home, the second of which was still visible from
the private wrap-around lanai outside our condo.
It’s 7:48 PM now on Saturday evening, and Andy and I closed the day as we do
almost every day, watching the sun set over the Pacific. Now I’ve gotta tell you. There are very few
things that can beat the experience I had a few minutes ago. I’m standing a foot-deep in the Pacific Ocean
of a Maui beach, gazing out at the setting sun as a sailboat slowly goes
by. A cocktail in my hand, I take a
generous drink and soak in the beauty in front of me. Then I look behind me at the beach and see
the love of my life looking my way with ANOTHER gorgeous rainbow behind him—the
third of the day! Can you even imagine
what that’s like? Standing in the
Pacific, the setting sun behind you, and a rainbow over Maui in front of
you??!! This place is really that
magical, that beautiful, that spiritual!
I am SO blessed to be here, and soaking up every minute I have left!
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