The sea turtles are surfacing. The ocean water is perfect turquoise. I sense my body’s conditioning, the strict Ashtanga discipline. I also sense the lazy kid and the wild woman. Give me a routine and give me freedom. Give me commitment and give me freedom. Why are the turtles swimming in the morning waves? Is it feeding time close to shore? I’m feeding myself on the cliff.
I am grateful….
I love myself by….
I choose….
In the power of choice realize what you are choosing. Accept that you are choosing and with that realize your power to choose differently.
I walk to Klyf Club before the sun gets too hot. I walk by little boys shouting over video games, dogs barking and scooters zipping around the corners of these quiet streets. The gas station is a bundle of gasoline filled plastic water bottles for sale beneath a palm tree.
The sun is high and hot when I walk down the steps to Secret Beach Point and spot Rae splashing in the shallows. Two women in the water with her. All of us solo traveling in Bali for yoga and art; American, Australian, German and Dutch. I brought my paint supplies and whipped out six new paintings in fifteen minutes as I felt my skin being fried, sandy rubbing into my burning flesh and sweat rolling down my arts and behind my knees. So bright then light, it strained my eyes to stare into the colors on my canvas. Painting almost blind and laughing!
I badly “need” a manicure. My nail polish is peeling. The skin on my feet is itchy and swelling. Would you believe me if I said I missed the jungle for a moment? And do sea turtles accidentally bump into each other? Do they ever come up for air and get smashed by a wave like a new surfer?
This trip has allowed me space to connect with dear friends very old and very new, to meet people who are choosing the lifestyle I’m excited to be living.
You need to believe that your smile genuinely makes a difference because it does.
Please take me, bring me, to the frontier where all of us hold hands and say, “I don’t know and this is amazing!”
In this moment, I am writing on the cliffs in Bali watching Sea Turtles while my mother is swimming with dolphins in Hawaii, my brother is with the love of his life at a family celebration in the Arizona desert, my father is in the Atlanta airport awaiting departure to Santiago, Chile from where he’ll set sail for Antarctica, my husband is in Seattle learning to play golf and building a boat and a couch, my friends are in countries all around the world building their families and businesses and enjoying their passions.
With the ladies I ate Mexican food at The Palms and said goodnight to the sun through the party lights at Sea Breeze while swimming my tongue in big sips of Strawberry Mint Iced Tea, a little uncomfortable yet content in the hammock suspended above the incoming tide! Tomorrow morning I catch the fast boat back to Bali.
