Sometimes life gets overwhelming. It can become stressful, anxiety-ridden, or everything catches up to you. A vacation from it seems to be what is needed. That is what my week in Hawaii was. A time to reset, regroup, and renew. Right after losing our dog, Hermie suddenly, we lost our youngest cat, Alice, or the Huntress. During a storm at night when I went to go to my car, she ran between my legs and shot outside into the rain. I thought she’d be right back because she hated the rain, but that didn’t happen. Weeks have gone by, and I’m not hopeful. Living in the forest has its downsides. This is one of those and why I want our cats in at night.
Our oldest cat, Thunder, during the same period, had what I thought was an eye infection. So I took her to the vet. It turned out to be a mass in her head. We kept her as comfortable as long as we could. We had to let her go a few days ago, which is always hard to do. To add to the loss of our fur babies, a good friend of my husband unexpectedly passed away during his vacation, and my uncle was put under the care of hospice with the diagnosis “anytime.” This all blended in with other challenges in my life and those unprocessed events resurfacing from the recent past until I felt like climbing into bed, pulling the covers high over my head, and staying there.
Instead, I packed my suitcase to leave and got on the plane to Kauai. I forced myself to settle into the Aloha Spirit with my husband, youngest daughter, and son-in-law.
Here’s where the magic I needed happened. Showing my daughter and husband the island for their first time reminded me of the beauty of nature and life. On one of those days, we wanted to show them what’s under the water or snorkeling. We met our first attempt with less than clear waters, so we headed to another beach. While the boys sat on the sand sunning, my daughter and I were enjoying the colorful fish. I was happily snapping many photos when I saw something off to my left. I quickly turned and was greeted by a huge green sea turtle swimming between my daughter and me. I joyfully shouted into the salty waters. Daughter, mother, and sea turtle swam side by side for what could have been an eternity. At that moment, I found my inner peace, inner child, and my soul again.
The turtle and I made eye contact. I felt his wisdom in those calm dark eyes. Then, he nodded to me and swiftly took off, leaving us behind. My daughter and I surfaced in pure glee of the bond of that shared experience. That Honu left behind the gift to trust the flow, to breathe, come up for air, swim at my own pace and spend more time in nature. I realized no matter what happened or what I came home to; I’d carry the strength of that brief encounter. It helped me give the courage to let Thunder go this week. This was the gentle reminder that I needed to remember no matter how tough things get—there’s always magic around me.
UPDATE:
1. There will be a couple of special edition blogs.
2. Next week’s blog will debut short story “Red Eyes in the Darkness” blurb and cover, along with a link for preorder.
3. I will be on vacation starting June 15th, to attend my son’s graduation from college, so responses from me will be slow. I’ll be quiet on social media again, too.
Embrace your inner child with the magic that surrounds us! D.L. Finn
