from there, to here.

those days there were dim -- spent mostly in the refuge of our four walled sanctuary, decorated with sweet treasures of time & dancing candlelight. where i tasted fresh air only on sporadic trips to the grocery store; the only distance one could walk without acquiring a painfully frozen face. but that air was hardly fresh. i could taste the toxins on my lips as i inhaled, from the local refineries combusting the blood of the Earth to heat those very four walls.

imbalanced.

i tried desperately to see the sunshine in the cloudy days, the colour in the grey. but soon the confines of my sheets, nesting on the floor of our sweet refuge, became the resting place of my wintered bones. i became numb. i became cold. it felt as if my entire body was frost bitten. i dreamt of warm air on my skin & forests to linger in. i dreamt of swimming to the bright & sunny surface of the dark depths of my limiting beliefs. little did i know, i only had to start paddling up.

that realization was my salvation. days became more beautiful, people more lovely. before we knew it, our eager hearts had a backpack mindfully stuffed with all of our things & it came time to soar.

the sun rose in our eyes, casting golden tangerine hues upon the land we were saying farewell to. the land that raised us. the land in which we took our first steps. the land that tripped us, but caught us so gracefully when we hit the ground. the land that shined light upon our shadows, teaching us to praise them equally as we would our luminescence. drifting lucidly through snow kissed peaks & frosted-tipped trees. inhaling brisk mystic mountain melodies, weaving through, dancing in tune to the crests & dips. every exhale bringing humbling waves, carrying us gracefully back to the sea-- where we're meant to be.

oh, hello Vancouver Island...