Here, Now, More, Later

My intentions prior to our Maui 2012 trip was not to saturate the week with endless touristy things. Two of our BBB (Blended-Brady-Bunch) had been to Maui previously (2008), two others had been in 2004 and two had not. Of course Cupcake Girl, in all of her almost 5 years, had not been. I wanted this to be a do-what-you-want-to-do trip. There was a planned snorkeling adventure followed by a catered dinner at the house, but other than that…..it was up to each person to plan their time.

For me, well, I wanted to be in the moment or should I say everyone’s moment. I wished I could have been with everyone as they played, as they saw new sights and experienced new things. But alas, I couldn’t. So I just tried to simply be.

I have to admit that sometimes I struggle with finding the right words to express what I want to convey in my blog posts. I find inspiration from books, quotes, people, blogs, etc. and as I was thinking about this post today the words just wouldn’t settle. I happened to read a brand new blog this afternoon from two young men, one that I know, who recently set out on an adventure, a grand journey. According to their blog, they have decided to take on the challenge of nomadic, self-sustained living. They are currently traveling North America in order to share music and the joy of living. Their experience will be shared through songs, visuals, and writings. You can visit their blog and share their journey here. While reading their first post today, they seemed to express precisely what I wanted to say in this post. I’m not sure which of the two wrote the post, but they expressed it so eloquently.

Remember that here is more important than there. Now is more important than later.

Yes, this is exactly what I felt while in Maui. What I tried to say, though somewhat altered from the above, to myself every morning. Sort of my mantra for the day.

I padded across the cool marble floor each morning around 5:15 am and made my way to the lanai. The new morning awaited and I wanted to participate! Usually I was alone, except for the little birds flitting from palm tree to palm tree, singing their little hearts out. They were just as happy to see those early morning rays as I was.

Each sunrise presented itself quietly, yet majestically. With the house located at the bottom of the West Maui Mountains, that early morning light reached the Island of Lānaʻi before the house and most mornings the sunrise brought clouds. Beautiful Clouds that swiftly made their way across the mountain range toward the ocean then farther out to sea.

If I watched carefully, the orange glow from the sun would peek through the cloud cover. A little to the left and a little to the right of Lānaʻi. It was grand and it was glorious, each and every morning.

I wasn’t the only one who wanted to participate or who sought peace and solitude early each morning.

Or for some, a bit later than early morning.

While on my quest for adequate words, I came across the following poem. If I had read this poem before going to Maui, I would have repeated it each morning as I welcomed the sun. As I sat and listened. As I sat and observed. As I sat and remembered that here is more important than there. Now is more important than later.

This picture was taken on the Island of Molokai.

Stay tuned. More to come!