this last week has been really beautiful and grounding. it was my first christmas away from my family, and it some ways that felt really relaxing and stress-free, and in other ways, i really really missed them. oddly enough, none of my sisters went home for christmas, except for the one who lives there, so it was a very different experience for my parents indeed. christmas is always a hectic time for the campbell's (which seems to be the across-the-board-experience for most people experiencing the holiday seasons with their families) so i am hoping that since all of us have a year off, we will come to really appreciate being together in years to come.
christmas eve we decided to hike to where the lava is flowing. kiluaea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and it is forever birthing this crazy island, and at the moment it is spewing hot magma lava all the way down to the ocean. so a couple friends and i made it there for an epic hike on christmas eve. it was quite the experience. it started off pouring rain with a consistent headwind of probably about 20 mph, relatively brutal, and then cleared up for a while, allowing us to make a good chunk of the hike with dry weather. we watched the sunset over the black pahoehoe lava. pahoehoe is the smoother kind of lava from flows that happened years ago, so they are all dried up, and this is what we hiked on for the entirety of the time. this place made us all feel as if the whole earth was pahoehoe lava, black and barren; it becomes all you can see aside from the cliff that drops off into the ocean and the hillside that the flowing lava brandished its thousand degree signature. it was like taking a trip to mordor and back, except this time we had to hike back out, there were no giant eagles to swoop down and save us.
at one point we were face to face with all the elements, rain was spitting all over us, and we looked down, and could actually see the glow of lava flowing between the cracks of the earth we were standing on, as the wind howled a most mournful song. it would get extremely hot in places like this, and we would go in search for more solid ground. it was crazy to actually feel the earth forming beneath our feet, i mean literally the ground did not feel solid, and for certain, it wasn't. eventually we hiked onward through the night, constantly searching for solid ground, a little stability to place our feet, and rest our hearts and minds. making it back to the road that led back to the car felt like a god-send. it was a most un-grounding experiencing, and at the same time, i was super grateful to have made the trek there and back with good company, and experience all these elements that are made by earth. it was a good reminder of how small and relatively insignificant i am as a human, and in some ways, how utterly powerless i am to the ways and the forces of the world, and how important it is to show respect to the ground i tread on, because by-god i am grateful it is solid.
this week the farm has been so mellow. i feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to live and work on the farm. life is so simple. talk about finding zen and peace in the simple things, "chopping wood, carrying water." i love and will truly miss my little life and routine i have going there. i work all day,run, make dinner, tea, and maybe a treat, process macadamia nuts, dry bananas, and am in bed by 9:30! only to rise again at 6:30 and watch the world turn light every morning. AHH! i love it. i needed some grounding quiet time, and i have received it. it reminds me that i would love my life to be like this at some point, with added community, and maybe a bit more action here and there, and a few people to share it with, and definitely no lettuce.
i am taking off for molokai on monday. i am doing a workshop with the ho'ea initiative. they do a lot of wilderness awareness workshops, that often include tracking, nature awareness, cultural awareness, and some other primitive skills. i am excited to go and see how it feels to be involved in something like this.
i am continuously trying to figure out what the next step is for me. is it school of some sort? more travel? a perfect job hidden somewhere? a diamond in the rough. i feel really ready to put my energy towards something that is sustainable for me and that i feel passionate about.. but what could this be? i am trying to stop searching so much and just relax into whatever my life has to offer me right now, despite pressures from my parents, my sisters, and pressures from myself. because they are undoubtedly there.
either way, i am really excited for this workshop. i am excited to go to boston and see rose. i am excited to be around my family. i am excited to go to allie's wedding and watch her put her faith in love. i am excited to go back to durango and work for open sky again, and sleep outside. i am excited to maybe buy a house plant-probably a succulent of some sort but a house plant nonetheless.
i love being excited.
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