After 10 years, we look like the same people we were, but slightly more confident, a little more polished. We’ve weathered our 20’s, replacing naivete with experience, aimlessness with direction.
This journey is far from over. This road is far from settled. We may have ex-careers, ex-boyfriends, or even ex-fiances. But our lives are not x’s, they are o’s, big round circles of possibility.
This weekend, I agreed to go for a run with NR, despite my insistence that I am “allergic to running.” I’m not lying. Whenever I run, the backs of my knees start itching and I think my skin turns pink. It’s an allergic reaction to running, I tell you.
We ran (okay, jogged—due to my slow pace) to Astoria Park. NR wanted to show me a couple of great photo spots in the park. This was one of them. It’s his photo, but I enhanced it in post-production. Unlike me, NR is generous with sharing his photos. I will have to go back one day and take my own, but for now, this is a nice capture of the moment.
Quotables
I’ve decided to start up my quote book again. Really, it’s a hardcover journal that I keep at home on my bookshelf. I like to think that when I read a book, I will jot down any quotes or passages that I really enjoy. Especially because I like to read literary fiction, or books that tend to contain beautiful prose.
I think it would be something I’d page through from time to time, taking comfort in the artfully constructed language. It’d be almost like a diary of the (good) books I’ve read—and their importance to me, exhibited in terms of what bits I want to keep from them. We will see if I am able to maintain it.
A day overdue but… homemade grilled cheese sandwiches! With tomato and bacon. How can something so simple be so good?
Planting party!
D told me that there are people who come into your life at exactly the right time that you need them. I’m not usually one that believes in fate… it seems too easy. Thinking that the universe had some kind of plan for each of us seems like a way to pacify ourselves and avoid responsibility for our own choices.
But what if there was some truth to that? Maybe our needs dictate how we interact with the world, and the image we project to others. And therefore we tend to draw in certain people who sense these needs, which gives us the impression that the universe has thrown them into our lives because it just knew.
I don’t think anyone, much less the universe at large, really does know. But funny coincidence, I feel like there have been people lately who have just come into my life (either for the first time, or a re-connection) and I’m so grateful that they’re there. It’s exactly the right time.
The most interesting store on the Hilo Bayfront
I had wandered into an intriguing store named “Aloha Grown,” located on a stretch of the somewhat empty (I imagine hard-hit by the economy) Hilo Bayfront. After looking at the various T-shirts with slogans like “Grown Not Flown” and “Keep Hilo Green,” the guy working there asked if I “lived here,” to which I replied no, that I was just visiting. I asked him about the story behind the store, and he told me that the goal was to get Hawaiians to buy local and support sustainable living. I liked this, so I bought a “Hilo Grown” shirt.
Aloha Grown is not just a business it’s a movement.
Aloha Grown was born out of a desire to make a difference in the environmental, economic and social sustainability of Hawai‘i.
Aloha Grown’s mission is to…
- Support Local
- Sustain the ‘Aina
- Share the Aloha
I question everything these days. It’s hard to believe in sincerity, in authenticity, in unvarnished truth. Things aren’t always what they seem. Or maybe they are exactly how they seem, and we just refuse to see the truth. Maybe we shutter our minds to avoid a reality that’s not to our liking.
Everything is meaningless until it becomes meaningful. Life is a lot simpler when trust replaces suspicion, when answers replace questions.
I suppose there will always be questions. I just need to trust in myself and in others, to help me find the answers.
