Sunny Serendipities

Amanda. Raw and real and rough and remarkable.  She loved animals and had pretty much devoted her life to them. So obviously we connected right away. It was beautiful to hear her heart through the stories she told of riding bareback in her youth and running wild with the dogs through open field. Amanda was an Arizona woman through and through. Skin tough as a cactus, humor dry as the desert, heart loud as a coyote in the night. Helping care for her animals which included four dogs (+ a constant flux of fosters in and out), two cats, three horses (+ the neighbor's five horses she sometimes cared for too), and her beloved mule was a wonderful way to spend my time in exchange for a place to stay and something to eat. Though Amanda and Greg (her husband) truly went above and beyond. From the day I arrived I felt like a member of the family. I came to love helping cook dinner and everyone sitting down to eat together. That was something I hadn't had much of in my college years. It...

 It took me a minute to locate my phone which had crept to the very bottom of my sleeping bag as it sounded the alarm- time to get up. I scrambled out of my tent into the darkness. Quietly I changed into my hiking clothes under the light of the moon and slipped into my down jacket to cut off the chill of the early morning (or late night? depending on your perspective) air. As I laced up my boots, I watched Rainer's flashlight beaming through his tent as he got himself ready.  With our bags packed including breakfast snacks, we headed off towards the base of the mountain. The sound of the ocean slowly faded as we made our way further from the campsite set right next to the beach, but the smell of it lingered with us. I checked my watch as we reached the beginning of the trail. 2:45 am. Perfect. Sunrise would begin around 5:40am so our goal was to reach the top by 5:30.  It started off uphill immediately but we climbed our way through the rocky terrain quickly. I clicked my...

Sometimes you do everything right. You are so proud of yourself! You're awesome! You just saved yourself so much money and made the best plan. Taking this night bus is totally worth it. You tell yourself all the different things you can use the money you saved for. And when you clamber off the bus, though you may be exhausted because you actually can't sleep at all on a bus, you walk with your shoulders back and head up. Because you are just that happy with your plan. You love being spontaneous. You booked this flight as you were boarding your night bus. You're so cool and fun! Now you're trying to check your bag and why can't you find yourself in the system? You go to ask the attendant who also is confused why your name is not popping up if you'd already purchased a ticket for the flight. So now you're in line to talk to the lady behind the counter. Waiting patiently because you're sure it's just a simple mistake.  But then the lady tells you are no...

The sun was blazing down and we were late. Again. I really don't like being late now but when I was eighteen I absolutely despised anyone that tried to make me late. And, bless her soul, Allie just couldn't keep up with my absurd pace. Sweating (from the heat or frustration, I don't know), I paced back and forth coaxing her not so gently to walk faster. Jahkai who drove us up the mountain every morning wouldn't mind that we were late. More time for him to smoke a joint and listen to Kendrick Lamar . He had 'island time' figured out. You could say I was still working on it. As I'm trying to take deep breaths and channel the laid back spirit of the Jamaican people, I hear her say she's got blisters on her feet. Allie is stopping to remove her shoes as I swivel around to inspect the damage. The insides of her shoes are stained red and its hard to tell where the blister even is, there's so much liquid oozing down her heel onto the pavement. I grimace, an...

Ouuuucchhh. I stopped in my tracks, trying to figure out what just happened. The small rock protruding from the otherwise soft dirt path looked up at me guiltily. I tried to wiggle my toe but it didn't budge. I could hardly stand to look at it oozing blood and puss. You'd think someone had thrown the rock and smashed my toe with it. But no. Just me walking and not paying great attention, apparently, to where I was going. (Yes I was barefoot and no I will not start wearing shoes). I hobbled my way over to the stage. Because of course, this happened at a doof (here's your wikipedia definition: "a doof is an outdoor dance party generally held in a remote country area" -aka the bush of Australia) I suppose I was fortunate this one was extremely small so I didn't have to cover much ground on foot from camp to the dance floor. For a while, I tried my best to keep dancing. It was an awkward three limbed experience that ended up with me collapsing in a chair- right to...

"You have time" is the biggest, fattest lie I've ever heard. How dare someone else claim to know how much time you have. Are you God? No? Then leave me alone. I could be in a car crash tomorrow and that could be the end. Morbid maybe, to think that way. But I find it freeing. Unbinding me from the shackles of the imaginary future and reminding me to always make the most of this moment, right now. I spent four years at a university I truly did love. I enjoy learning and I learned a lot of really valuable things from my time there. But I was there because that's what I thought I had to do. I told myself later. Later you will have more time. Later you will have more money. Later you can fulfill your dreams once you've created more stability for yourself. The call to go to Arizona was so strong within me- this is a feeling I get about places sometimes. And now I know it means I have to go. There's no getting around it when my soul feels like that. Why fight agains...

  Welcome to My Blog! Creating this has been on my mind for a while but I haven't had access to my own laptop for over a year. As you could imagine, that makes trying to write a blog pretty difficult. I am happy to announce that we have recently been reunited (and I don't plan on separating again any time soon) which means I can finally start sharing my stories with you! If you take the time to read this, just know I love you. I'm guessing the only people that will read this are my mom and maybe a few of the people closest to me- and probably still not most of them. Reading a full blog post is a lot to expect of anyone in this world of instant gratification we live in I suppose. But if you are miraculously someone that's not my mom reading this, that's really freaking cool! I appreciate you:) (and you too mom, of course<3). I'm mostly writing this for myself with no intention of gaining followers or however that would work on a blog which I have zero clue abo...