Saint Lucia video diary
Three walled hotel room, waking up to the Pitons.
Had to take the audio out because the sound I made when that humpback whale came up for air next to us was NOT chill. Absolutely magical.
Not pictured but I don’t want to forget: snorkeling and seeing so many coral and creatures, including a parrotfish and a squid flash from orange to blue. Incredible.
St Lucia is magic.
We bathed in sulphur springs, hiked, snorkeled, sailed, rode horses & ATVs.
My favorite thing about it all?
Donald is my favorite person to travel with. He always leans in — even when his hiking obsessed wife decides that hiking Gros Piton from the normal starting point (about 600 ft above sea level) wasn’t enough. No, I wanted to start at the bottom. All 2,619 feet of it. It’s only about 5 miles total, but those miles are brutal, going from extreme incline to all out bouldering.
Most of the people we passed tapped out halfway up, but that’s not the Barjas way.
We went all the way to the summit.
I have my best thoughts when my body is busy.
Growing up, 40th birthdays were synonymous with the phrase “over the hill” — black decorations and morbid humor to cope with the idea that’s it all down hill from here.
I don’t see it that way. I’m still climbing, but I also see the value of going downhill.
When you’re ascending, there’s no time to check the view. You keep your eyes on the road ahead of you, laser focused. You take a few breaks — a week long vacation or 6 month sabbatical — but it’s mostly climbing.
The way up requires a constant reframing.
On the way down, I looked around with wonder. I couldn’t believe I had climbed up this thing. I had smiles to give hikers on their way up, words of encouragement. You’re almost there!
I could also appreciate the surroundings, the flowers I’d never see in bloom before, or the sound right before you feel the wind, like it’s gathering the courage to move you, to run its fingers through your hair.
The whole rest of the trip, we’d see clouds swirling around the peak and look at each other and smile.
We climbed that, together. And isn’t that such a beautiful metaphor for life? It’s hard sometimes. We do our best in any given circumstance. I’m grateful to have a partner that is willing to climb mountains with me, literally and metaphorically.
St Lucia is a romantic destination, and we were surrounded by couples, both young (hands constantly touching, exploring this new state) and old (a quiet ease, confident in their landscape) and us, somewhere in the middle.
Happy 11 years, beb.
We moved in
in the depths of winter
Now we get to watch the whole place bloom
From the bones
Bright red snapdragons burst free,
branches lined with honeysuckle treats
Every day, it gets a little more green.
I get irrationally giddy when I see cardinals and quail. They are common here but I still gasp and point every time I see one. I think about that comic about the cardinal who is tired of being overlooked, so he finds a place on the map where cardinals aren’t common and he goes there, finally surrounded by people who are excited to see him.
It’s true that wherever you go, there you are. You can’t escape yourself.
It’s also true that circumstances dictate a lot about your life
and the quickest way to change them is to change the rooms you’re standing in.
May you always find yourself in rooms where people are rooting for you ❤️
—————-
self-portraits / creative exercise
We had the best time walking in the Sedona St. Patrick’s Day parade with the Desert Irish Wolfhound Association. Safe to say @itstairnupmyheart could get used to all the love and attention! 🍀🫶🏻
I am happy in a way that is hard for me to trust. It’s storytelling 101 — the bliss right-before-some-devastating-event-changes-the-entire-fabric-of-your-soul
so that the chasm, of course, can serve for an incredible hero’s journey.
But no one is reading along here.
My life doesn’t have to be entertaining to anyone but me.
It is hard for me to trust this happiness but I don’t want to shoo it away in the wake of my disbelief.
So I hold it close with gratitude
And ask that it stays with me.
đź“·: @n0justicen0peace1998
This week we met up with another local Irish wolfhound. Tairn was momentarily scared to see a dog as big as he was — and as soon as he got over that, he immediately started trying to hump him. Adolescents 🙄
He had a great time and sweet Angus did a great job putting up with his antics and also teaching him manners when he got a little too rambunctious. Grateful! It’s fun to watch him be able to wrestle full out with a dog his own size. He always has to be so careful with the dogs in our life. ❤️
