It's one of those days....

...when it's emotionally difficult to get out of bed. I had some vivid dreams last night. Of playing around the E Ala as kids at Pōka‘i, of shave ice and Teri sticks from the hardly ever open Nene‘u's. I woke up missing the feeling of Kaiaulu, especially after a long hot day, Kaiaulu would caress your skin seemingly out of nowhere and bring some blessed relief. I woke up aching, missing people and places, my hands twitching to feel the sand at Keawa‘ula and drive through first, second and third dips. I think mostly, I'm aching to give these gems to my kids. Far from anything I could ever buy for them in any store, these are the important things I would like for them to have. I know they're creating their own connections and associations with places and people, but they need the opportunity to form a connection with the one hānau as well. I got to thinking about the beauty in spaces. We were camping up at East Canyon a few weeks ago, and as soon as we got there, my shoulders fell away from my ears, and my lungs expanded. We hadn't even set up camp yet so there was still work to be done, but just being in that space, the clear wide open sky, the hills surrounding us and the beautiful lake seemingly at our feet, immediately shifted our perspectives. We got to talking bout ow places are differently beautiful, like how Washington state is incredibly green, and how Arizona has a stark kind of beauty that sneaks up on you. That night before we went to bed Dave and I started talking about how being in such places changes you, and how we are not so far removed from our ancient selves that we are not still aware. We got to talking about how we are shaped by our environment and what beautiful, incredible, lives we must have lived being intimately connected to our surroundings in Hawai‘i.. Our thought patterns must have been different. We for sure operated at a higher frequency in our thinking, our creating, and our doing. Not being encumbered by what we today consider necessities, we must have lived lives filled with spirituality, appreciation and acknowledgement of our minor place in the whole, interacting and depending on the quality of our surroundings for the quality of our lives. Those thoughts are what got me up and moving today. Because my daughters depend on us to share these things with them. Making a goal of taking them home next year. It's a necessity.