Biemvenue! This is my first ever blog and my very first posting. After getting numerous comments from people as to why I have not done it before on impulse this evenig I decided why not? If I continue to put off doing this as I have put off other things before I may never get a chance to see the wonder in wonderland.
These essays came about from another discussion group and after getting almost 20,000 hits I deicded well maybe they are right, maybe there will be someone who would be interested in my moonlight ramblings.
Bear with me as I figure things out as I am not of the generation that grew up with Ipods,blogs,texting and a host of other things.
I do hope you enjoy this process for me & if you don't at least be gentle...
So ok... Here we go.
Reading someone comments about being discouraged because they tried something and swore they never would do it again made me think of a experience I had several years ago when I was in St Kitts/Nevis Island in the West Indies on a women's retreat. One of the things we had schedule was a hike in a rain forest.
Yup.
Starry, starry nights…
So there I was in May 2001 & I was not going to go because I did not think my knees (which were in better shape then & I was 50 pounds lighter) could make the hike I was going to sit on the edge of the rainforest and wait until people return and enjoy the beautiful skies and the birds and what I could see.
We had hiking guides that took us through. There were three other women who had knee, hip or back issues like I who were reluctant, but truly did not want to miss out on the experience. So impulsively I said lets go and we will simply be the caboose and brig up the rear.
What a experience we had seeing birds, foliage trees that were jaw dropping gorgeous. Seeing things that we buy in the nursery in its natural habitat in sizes we had never see before. And flower called firecracker (and that is exactly what it looked like) I have a picture of me standing in the folds of the roots of a tree that was at least 2 stories high(I kid you not). We were because of the laws could not remove anything from the rain forest if it was not already open like a pod shell. I still have a collection of them some I have made into earrings. We simply walked moderately and at some point lost the other group but the guide was still with us. And we helped each other when there were places we had to climb over step over or go down slowly.
By the time we got to the end the biggest and most tender surprise awaited us. There off in the clearing was the rest of the group that patiently waited for us and they burst into cheering, stomping and whistling and our group just strutted and pranced down that last few feet. It was so touching not only seeing that level of sisterhood, but the fact that we chose to have a well lived life, storing up another experience that if we had let fear and worry restrict us, we would have lost out on a opportunity to walk through a rain forest.
Starry, starry nights…
I mean how many people get to do that? And we all many parts damaged but we did it. And to this day I still grin when I think of that experience and others that came while on those islands. I who do not care for large bodies of water actually boarded a ferry in the Caribbean Sea so we could cross from St. Kitts to Nevis and while for the first few minutes would not let go of the interior pole in this 20 min trip, actually let the pole go and went to the side to take pictures! And I would have missed out on a gorgeous plantation and the to die for food and sat on the veranda and wrote a wonderful poem about the extraordinary woman who organized this whole event as I saw her rushing across the lawn to tend to yet another detail to make this experience truly wonderful for all of us.
"Wind Runner shifting in the breeze...Tendrils flowing between the leaves.Coming from somewhere, returning to a bared truthsThat bears to share, to declare!The unseen scene.Wind Runner...Can you dig on massive, circling waves.Of fragrant rose-mangoed, salty sea breezes?Rolling through the veranda on a mission?Wind runner shifting in the breeze...Tendrils flowing between the leaves.Lifting you.Up & up & up! Gliding on the wings of the unseen scene...And I've shared an exquisite, captivating sigh with you...Lavender 'n grapefruit airborne morning gloried sunset skies.Swirling through the Wind Runner slippered feet.As you flow through the unseen scene, we'll be with youKeeping pace.Wind Runner shifting in the breeze...Tendrils flowing in the leaves.Coming from somewhere.Returning to bared truths.That bears you onto the unseen scene".
How little I was to know in this experience that less then 5 months later Sept other was going to hit? But that week from start to finish was an experience that was going to stay with me forever.
And what if I had vetoed going. I mean after all I was going to have to fly over a ocean and a sea, but if I hadn't I would not have seen the beauty of Kuba, Puerto Rico, Granada and a host of other tiny jewels from the sky. Or feel the trade winds or see the night sky so lit up and take your breath away. Or the crab that decided to pose for a picture or wind the dance contest and brought back the biggest bottle of rum (and I don't drink) or a host of amazing experiences.
So I ask,what holds you back? When did we stop trying new things? Can we say we hold ourselves back because a unwarranted fear? Can you take a risk? Sometimes we don't take a chance because we are afraid of that we will look foolish or we will mess things up.
And I say , so what?
Sometimes we get so settled because someone else us we're too old or too young, too fat, to broke. But you know what? We can be too-too...
And in time it just becomes to easy to live out loud. I plead guilty of that at times which is another reason why I am making the leap of this move going into the unseen scene. And trust me though few would say it to my face, even among some of my friends they would quietly roll their eyes and say "That's Moon. No wonder she ______________(you fill in the blanks)" But secretly some of them could come to me and say how much they admire my chutzpah. And you know I know that sometimes they are secretly envious because I do do some of the things they fantasize about but won't.
Starry, starry nights…
And it doesn't mean sometimes I fall flat on my face, cause I have and sometimes with a loud resounding thunk! And sometimes several thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk! But if we look at how children used to be and still to some degree know that there are times when you just have to jump in feet first to have fun or to dare to do the do. How many of us who are old enough to remember put the towel on our neck and pretended to be Superman, Batman or for those who wanted, Wonder Woman? Of course we knew even in our childish fantasies we couldn't really fly, but that didn't stop us from trying!
At what price we do we stop paying our dues to sustain a well live life? I don't mean for some people they do not have to go off to a hike in a rainforest or run up and down the West Coast with very little money and no job but what price do we pay for no growth, no sense of discovery, few real experiences? For some it will be buying their first home or changing a job different from their degree or going back to college at age 70 or knowing when to stay put.
Or like me taking this time to write a book and seriously pursue getting it published or setting up a blog not knowing if any would read or care much about my words...
For me the sacrifice isn't worth it, not doing it & the dash between my beginnings and my end will be quite long...
Starry, starry nights…
And I'll have lots of experiences to tell the younger grandchildren and hopefully great grands who think their Grammy is pretty cool.
Starry, starry nights underneath moon dusted skies.
I was being charmed by clouds drifting toward distant canopies far off & a long way.
Just a’glowing melodic declarations of itself on turquoise quiet seas…
To my eyes an orchestrated a sumptuous, visual feast.
While dusky eyes alight upon your heart as I gazed at you afar.
Oh the starry, starry night underneath moonlit heavens.
A rapture of husky night sounds murmuring sounds of future promised times.
And the tiptoed, pensive thoughts rotating, gyrating…
Not daring yet wanting to come next to me.
What was brought about, be the cause of what finally into the light?
Ah, the starry, starry nights underneath moon rhythms.
Yearning to be brought to fruition the sounds of ripening sweet mangoes tasted dreams.
Cremaos en los suenos ("We believe in dreams)…
Of shared fingers, uncommon thoughts weightless promises of times not caught sight of.
Dreamy eyes off in the distant light seeing & knowing in a for a moment place
That was there for the minute underneath starry, starry nights layered under a Kittian sky.
My heart knew then that it shall be grand & at peace.
Life is full of adventures and some of them are right underneath you nose, but if you are a gotta, gotta, gotta person sort of like the schizophrenic rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, never slowing down for a moment to look around & explore savor and then do it ,you may never get to see the wonder in the land.
Yup.
Starry, starry nights…
So there I was in May 2001 & I was not going to go because I did not think my knees (which were in better shape then & I was 50 pounds lighter) could make the hike I was going to sit on the edge of the rainforest and wait until people return and enjoy the beautiful skies and the birds and what I could see.
We had hiking guides that took us through. There were three other women who had knee, hip or back issues like I who were reluctant, but truly did not want to miss out on the experience. So impulsively I said lets go and we will simply be the caboose and brig up the rear.
What a experience we had seeing birds, foliage trees that were jaw dropping gorgeous. Seeing things that we buy in the nursery in its natural habitat in sizes we had never see before. And flower called firecracker (and that is exactly what it looked like) I have a picture of me standing in the folds of the roots of a tree that was at least 2 stories high(I kid you not). We were because of the laws could not remove anything from the rain forest if it was not already open like a pod shell. I still have a collection of them some I have made into earrings. We simply walked moderately and at some point lost the other group but the guide was still with us. And we helped each other when there were places we had to climb over step over or go down slowly.
By the time we got to the end the biggest and most tender surprise awaited us. There off in the clearing was the rest of the group that patiently waited for us and they burst into cheering, stomping and whistling and our group just strutted and pranced down that last few feet. It was so touching not only seeing that level of sisterhood, but the fact that we chose to have a well lived life, storing up another experience that if we had let fear and worry restrict us, we would have lost out on a opportunity to walk through a rain forest.
Starry, starry nights…
I mean how many people get to do that? And we all many parts damaged but we did it. And to this day I still grin when I think of that experience and others that came while on those islands. I who do not care for large bodies of water actually boarded a ferry in the Caribbean Sea so we could cross from St. Kitts to Nevis and while for the first few minutes would not let go of the interior pole in this 20 min trip, actually let the pole go and went to the side to take pictures! And I would have missed out on a gorgeous plantation and the to die for food and sat on the veranda and wrote a wonderful poem about the extraordinary woman who organized this whole event as I saw her rushing across the lawn to tend to yet another detail to make this experience truly wonderful for all of us.
"Wind Runner shifting in the breeze...Tendrils flowing between the leaves.Coming from somewhere, returning to a bared truthsThat bears to share, to declare!The unseen scene.Wind Runner...Can you dig on massive, circling waves.Of fragrant rose-mangoed, salty sea breezes?Rolling through the veranda on a mission?Wind runner shifting in the breeze...Tendrils flowing between the leaves.Lifting you.Up & up & up! Gliding on the wings of the unseen scene...And I've shared an exquisite, captivating sigh with you...Lavender 'n grapefruit airborne morning gloried sunset skies.Swirling through the Wind Runner slippered feet.As you flow through the unseen scene, we'll be with youKeeping pace.Wind Runner shifting in the breeze...Tendrils flowing in the leaves.Coming from somewhere.Returning to bared truths.That bears you onto the unseen scene".
How little I was to know in this experience that less then 5 months later Sept other was going to hit? But that week from start to finish was an experience that was going to stay with me forever.
And what if I had vetoed going. I mean after all I was going to have to fly over a ocean and a sea, but if I hadn't I would not have seen the beauty of Kuba, Puerto Rico, Granada and a host of other tiny jewels from the sky. Or feel the trade winds or see the night sky so lit up and take your breath away. Or the crab that decided to pose for a picture or wind the dance contest and brought back the biggest bottle of rum (and I don't drink) or a host of amazing experiences.
So I ask,what holds you back? When did we stop trying new things? Can we say we hold ourselves back because a unwarranted fear? Can you take a risk? Sometimes we don't take a chance because we are afraid of that we will look foolish or we will mess things up.
And I say , so what?
Sometimes we get so settled because someone else us we're too old or too young, too fat, to broke. But you know what? We can be too-too...
And in time it just becomes to easy to live out loud. I plead guilty of that at times which is another reason why I am making the leap of this move going into the unseen scene. And trust me though few would say it to my face, even among some of my friends they would quietly roll their eyes and say "That's Moon. No wonder she ______________(you fill in the blanks)" But secretly some of them could come to me and say how much they admire my chutzpah. And you know I know that sometimes they are secretly envious because I do do some of the things they fantasize about but won't.
Starry, starry nights…
And it doesn't mean sometimes I fall flat on my face, cause I have and sometimes with a loud resounding thunk! And sometimes several thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk! But if we look at how children used to be and still to some degree know that there are times when you just have to jump in feet first to have fun or to dare to do the do. How many of us who are old enough to remember put the towel on our neck and pretended to be Superman, Batman or for those who wanted, Wonder Woman? Of course we knew even in our childish fantasies we couldn't really fly, but that didn't stop us from trying!
At what price we do we stop paying our dues to sustain a well live life? I don't mean for some people they do not have to go off to a hike in a rainforest or run up and down the West Coast with very little money and no job but what price do we pay for no growth, no sense of discovery, few real experiences? For some it will be buying their first home or changing a job different from their degree or going back to college at age 70 or knowing when to stay put.
Or like me taking this time to write a book and seriously pursue getting it published or setting up a blog not knowing if any would read or care much about my words...
For me the sacrifice isn't worth it, not doing it & the dash between my beginnings and my end will be quite long...
Starry, starry nights…
And I'll have lots of experiences to tell the younger grandchildren and hopefully great grands who think their Grammy is pretty cool.
Starry, starry nights underneath moon dusted skies.
I was being charmed by clouds drifting toward distant canopies far off & a long way.
Just a’glowing melodic declarations of itself on turquoise quiet seas…
To my eyes an orchestrated a sumptuous, visual feast.
While dusky eyes alight upon your heart as I gazed at you afar.
Oh the starry, starry night underneath moonlit heavens.
A rapture of husky night sounds murmuring sounds of future promised times.
And the tiptoed, pensive thoughts rotating, gyrating…
Not daring yet wanting to come next to me.
What was brought about, be the cause of what finally into the light?
Ah, the starry, starry nights underneath moon rhythms.
Yearning to be brought to fruition the sounds of ripening sweet mangoes tasted dreams.
Cremaos en los suenos ("We believe in dreams)…
Of shared fingers, uncommon thoughts weightless promises of times not caught sight of.
Dreamy eyes off in the distant light seeing & knowing in a for a moment place
That was there for the minute underneath starry, starry nights layered under a Kittian sky.
My heart knew then that it shall be grand & at peace.
Life is full of adventures and some of them are right underneath you nose, but if you are a gotta, gotta, gotta person sort of like the schizophrenic rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, never slowing down for a moment to look around & explore savor and then do it ,you may never get to see the wonder in the land.
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