Sitting on the balcony enjoying the morning sun and the heat of what would become the hottest day of the holiday. Absorbing the magnificence of the mountains that stood hard in the distance, bespeckled with the white walls of houses creeping up the less steep faces. Hawaii was magical, but it was time to leave and return home. Leaving the small room of the apartment was a simple task, but psychologically there was much more to it. Thoughts drifted back to Nova Scotia faster than the plane would take us - going home. Going home - it was a pleasant thought, one that conjured smiles. The beauty of the island of Oahu was etched into memory, the people were warm and welcoming, the landscape abundant in beauty and perhaps most of all, the feeling of warm sun on exposed skin. There was an element of freedom that ruled and roamed free. I guess that is what a holiday is about. An escape from the day-to-day to a far away place. The time to ease down a few gears and absorb the surroundings, immerse in blue water and exfoliate the skin with soft sand from golden beaches. I would happily return there, and look forward to the return.
Now I sit in the kitchen, the night is dark outside, the wind howls and the rain pours relentlessly. Welcome home. There is something about Nova Scotia that is hard to understand. There is such an amazing feeling here when the sun peeks out from behind the thick clouds. The seasons here are incredible, summer a mix of sea blue and grassy green, autumn is a collage of every colour imaginable, reds, browns, yellows - fall colours. The winter though, that is something different, the snow doesn't last forever, but the cold that feels as though it breaks through the thickest coat and the grey of the clouds. They feel as though they last for months. We hibernate, tuck away in blankets with oil furnaces burning away dollars and paper thin walls setting free the heat we so desperately try and keep in. Even so, the stark change from Hawaii to home is amazing. I have such a fondness for this hard, wet and windy place and look forward to the birth of spring, the rush into summer and the warm sunshine and golden days that allow the same sense of freedom.
The van has been great these last few days, as if it too senses the slow change of temperature and the beginnings of spring. I want to be on the road, to drive to nowhere and stay awhile.
Holidays are what you make of them, days spent by the beach, days walking and walking absorbing everything around while blisters burn and pop. Skin darkens, hair lightens, eyes sparkle. I return refreshed and revived, the soul is energised and while bank accounts crumble and the days ahead are hard, it is with a warm embrace that I take them in. The days are hard to make the times of freedom felt earned. I returned to my work with greater motivation than I've had in months. I've set about responsibilities with a spring in my step. This time I'm not going to let it leave. Winter is not going to beat me as I know it is almost over, and once it ends, the freedom to roam and be outside will return.
