Tranquility is...
I don't know how to be on vacation and not write. Writers don't take vacations. We travel and see the sites and eat the different foods, yet our notebooks and laptops are always near. Maybe an idea will come from something we've seen or someone we've met or observed. All of my vacations are working vacations.
On my current vacation, my wife and mother-in-law implored me to just relax and not try to write. I acquiesced somewhat in Seattle, and then again on Oahu. There was so much to see and do, that writing took a backseat. I managed to write one article for my sports blog 'Voices from the Bleachers' and three paragraphs in a short story with an August first due date. That was it for the first half of this vacation.
Seattle was the Space Needle and MoPop and the Monorail and Pike Street Market, and we were busy the whole time we were there. Honolulu was Waikiki and Pearl Harbor and bus tours and Korean bbq, and the hustle and bustle was reminiscent of Chicago or any other big city. No writing, and not really any relaxation. Plenty of fun and activities, but there was not really any "chill" time.
We arrived on the Big Island, Hawai'i, at an outdoor airport, and the sky was overcast, little droplets of rain sending the message that I was in for something different. We landed in Kona, and rented cars to drive to the resort. The landscape of black volcanic rock, mountains, and shrubbery was not awe-inspiring, majestic, or beautiful. I was not impressed.
Since we've been here, something happened to me which I haven't done or felt in years; I relaxed. No alarms, no horns blaring from cars or taxis, no loud music, no nothing. Just birds tweeting, gentle breezes, and a calmness I've never before experienced. As I swam under a waterfall, I tried to think of how to describe this island and I failed.
Walking slowly, holding hands, sipping exotic drinks, talking to strangers, and doing small things, such as watching people play golf, swimming, hot tubbing, and observing a mountain goat walking about. I felt the urge to be at one with nature, as if my soul had been wrung out of all the bullshit I carry around from the world, and I felt clean for the first time ever. And I started writing again...
In the next few years, I'll continue to travel to new places, see new things, and meet new people. I do know one thing though, I'll return to the Big Island again and again, which is rare for me to return to places. New Orleans doesn't count. Lol. I'll return here because I found something here that I haven't found anywhere else. Tranquility. Serenity. Peace. Restoration. Myself...
Mahalo
