.....snippets of perfection

Yogis,
When you return from a vacation everyone asks you how it was. They want to hear if you had a good time and get a brief overview of what made it special. No one really cares to hear all the details or see every picture you took, so I found myself mentally sifting through the sounds, smells, sights and experiences that I had in my eight days in St John to attempt to weave a week of perfection into a couple soundbites.

Should I talk about the morning hikes? How they began with my feet in the sand and ended at the top of a cliff surrounded by silly looking cactus and a blue sea that extended as far as the eye could see. A small plateau in which to pause, catch your breath and inevitably strike up instant friendships with the few other hikers doing the same.

Or perhaps I should recount the tales of animals that crossed my path (literally) who made it clear I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The goats who peered down at me from the top of my outdoor shower and whose bleats filled the morning air. The donkeys who strolled the beach in the afternoon grabbing snacks out of unsuspecting sunbather’s beach bags. Or the click-click-click of the armies of hermit crabs marching through the brush to who knows where. The pink flamingos that recently arrived in the salt pond or the hummingbirds.

Maybe I could share how incredibly satisfying that first bite of a perfectly grilled mahi-mahi sandwich was after a leisurely afternoon on the beach. That first delightful sip of the painkiller which accompanied it, dusted with fresh ground nutmeg.

But how could I not mention the moon? The way she would lift each evening over the horizon as we watched through open doors facing east. Surrounded by thousands of stars and throwing a river of light across the ocean’s surface. Not to be outdone, the sun would then wake me each morning as she rose from the same position, casting her beams on my bed to let me know it was time to stir. Another new and glorious day.

The light breeze that would brush my skin just at the right time during our morning yoga practices on the balcony. The turtles who allowed me to float alongside them as they munched sea grass. My first shark sighting underwater. Living in cutoff shorts with warm sand between my toes.

But most of all, how can I possibly find the right words to express that by the end of the week, as I floated on my back with the sun on my face, my hair filled with salt and my feet blistered from miles of hiking I felt the immense ‘me-ness’ inside bursting out to be seen. Alive…..joyful……and oh so filled with gratitude.

How was your vacation? It was perfect.

Sun kissed,
SARAH