Last night I returned from 9 days in Hawaii. Life could be worse. On the flight home, I was doing some journaling and shedding a few surprise tears, and I realized that I had cried on both the outbound trip last week and on the return flight. Last week it was because I'd put several Sex & the City episodes on my iPhone to pass the time and I'd included the episode where Carrie's computer crashes and Miranda's mother dies. My god, that's a good episode.
Last night my tears weren't as easy to trace back to a single source. It could have been my wonderful vacation coming to an end, or saying goodbye to my BFF, whom I truly love, or listening to Joni Mitchell and her heartbreaking honesty. Maybe it was the book I was finishing (I can't wait to tell you all about it), or it could have been the book I was starting; both deep, amazing stories that engulfed my soul.
It was probably a combination of all those and more, but the image I kept coming back to in my mind was of me and my surf instructor for the week, Ray, sitting on our boards, the top of my board resting on his, secured by his hands, my back to the horizon and Ray facing me, keeping watch, Diamond Head to my right, sun beating down, feet out of sight but keeping a slow rhythm of motion . . . simultaneously waiting for and experiencing perfection.
The vacation was great and so was the surfing. To be honest, so were the tears on the plane on the way home. I think sometimes you just have so much feeling happening that it squeezes out of your eyes.
More to come.
I am equal parts extremely envious of you and extremely happy for you. Right now I can't help but think that the solution to all my problems involves taking a plane to Hawaii for 9 days, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to hear that Hawaii was good because you really needed some relaxation and happy times.
ReplyDeleteThe feelings do squeeze out of us, don't they? Joni Mitchell does it for me every time.
Here's my plan for your life:
ReplyDelete1) Put your head down, finish MAT.
2) Move to Hawaii. Pick an island, doesn't matter.
3) Don't unpack.
4) Get set up as a substitute teacher ASAP on current island.
5) Between sub gigs, apply for every full time teaching gig for which you are qualified on every island until you land a job.
6) Live, teach, and surf happily ever after.
Admit it: my plan for your life strikes a chord of distant joy in your soul. :-)
I'm happy you had a good vacation! And Hawaii sounds perfect.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear about the book(s) you're reading. Right now the book I am reading is really awesome but there seems to be a lot of math in it. (Can you tell who picked it out for me?)
I would like to "like" Brendon's comment. Word.
ReplyDeleteI see that google didn't post my immediate response to this post, which pretty much anticipated Brendon's in saying "last time I checked, Hawaii also has schools and banks, so go for it".
ReplyDeleteSince then, of course, the annual global city "liveability" survey was published and Honolulu was the top US city. Now you know I love Portland, but.....