When I moved here I thought I needed to get away from the horrible weather of the midwest, too hot in the summer, bone-chilling in the winter, but that wasn’t it, I know that now. I needed to decide to live where I wanted to be.
Sure, the weather is not my cup of tea, but who doesn’t love those two, maybe three weeks of “apple barning”? (yes, I have turned that into a verb, and I fancy myself a caramel apple connoisseur)
I love the ocean, I love to hear it crash upon the shore, maybe just to know that I am not the only thing in this world that is constantly crashing. Or maybe I just need to be surrounded by water, reminded constantly of how small I am. Maybe I just needed to know that I have the power to be where I want. But moving here was just that, empowering.
For me it is an island in the middle of the Caribbean. For some, it is off to Dublin or Rome, for some it is a little flower shop twenty minutes from town. I think the most important part is to be in the driver’s seat of what you want. I know for some it is our children, our job, or our family that holds us where we don’t want to be.
I also know that when we move where we want we find that the things that plagued us before are still there, and I think that brings the reality of making the best of what we have today, rather than blame it on where or what we have. Our circumstances are really just temporary in the end. This is all temporary.
I think what makes this life “a life”, is friendships and laughter, loving and vulnerability, sadness and acceptance, and most of all, the ability to see beauty in it all. Connecting with each other. Being real.
If you can’t be real, what the fuck can you be?
What I am saying is being ourselves is really the “dream life”, isn’t it? Being seen without the veil of bullshit that we so often shroud ourselves in. For me, that meant moving 2,200 miles from my home, but it shouldn’t have to be that dramatic, it should be a choice that we make when we put our feet on the ground each morning. I’m going to be free today.
There, be free, get naked, whatever, just be real.
