How can you meet a new person and feel like you’ve known them forever? Travel to a place that feels like heaven and home? Robb and I travelled to Maui for the writing conference that I bailed on after the first day (secretly just a way to get to Maui?) - it was focused more on promoting a publishing company which wasn't what I was looking for; what it did for me is get me to realize I just need to WRITE every day. That's it. No magic, no message from the universe, no spiritual or mental shift - just WRITE.
So. Maui. I rented an air BNB room online in an attempt to save some money. Maui hotels are PRICEY and touristy and everything I don’t like about a vacation. I found a place online that just cried out to me “pick me!” “pick me!”….and my intuition did not steer me in the wrong direction. (as usual; go with the gut). It wasn't in a location that was convenient to the conference (foreshadowing?), it was just a room in a house (would that be weird?), and I knew nothing about this part of the island and had absolutely no plans for what we might do there. Yet I knew this was it. The pictures on the website were amazing and they undersell the property and location. This place is a little slice of heaven and the woman who owns it feels like a long lost sister. I love it when things come together and just feel right. This place is THAT for me. It has an energy and a calm that together make this exactly what I needed in this week. The mountains meet the ocean and in between is this place with flowers and plants and chickens and trees and warm banana bread. When I booked this trip I was feeling overwhelmed; overwhelmed with parenting, with work, with housework, with life. This was four months ago but this trip has been right on time. I am grateful. So very grateful to be able to do this; to come to Maui with the love of my life and spend time exploring, resting, writing, reading, and remembering who I am when I'm not wearing all of those other hats.
Our hostess, Sally, has been wonderful. She has a unique and wonderful story of what brought her to this island. I've known her for three days yet her story speaks to me. I know so many women who have struggled through divorce (myself included), dealing with the trauma of doubting yourself, questioning your decisions, coming to terms with what was and what is now. Not to mention "why?" and "what was I thinking?" and "will I ever love again?". Love comes to us in so many ways. For Sally, it came in a form she never expected; she reconnected with someone from her past, someone twenty years her senior, someone who had once been romantically involved with her aunt. Who would have ever guessed? Who would have ever guessed how any of us wind up together in this crazy life? How can we know if the universe is conspiring against our own well laid plans? I write this for multiple reasons; to give hope to anyone struggling with the why's and how's and to remind myself that control is an illusion. I saw a painting I loved once with that title, and I think of the phrase often. It all just works out.
I'm grateful for where my crazy life has brought me; grateful for the connections with people along the way. I'm grateful I get to spend my days and nights with a man who loves me just as I am, who understands me and accepts me and all of the baggage that got me here. I'm grateful for meeting Sally and her love, Brian, and hearing how the universe conspired to bring them together on the same path. It's beautiful when you hear a story that reminds you that love always wins.