After much pulling and prodding from friends and within myself, I went paddling this morning with my aged 50+ girlfriends. This is the 6-person outrigger canoe, in this case fiberglass, but modeled after the traditional Polynesian Koa canoe.
It was one of those rare days, when we could see Lanai, Molokai, and Maui from shore. The kai (ocean) was glassy, and there were 3-4’ waves at Flat Island. So we paddled the mile or so over there and rode the waves. I just love taking off on a wave, in a 400+ pound canoe, with the spray coming off the front paddlers. Pauline said it looked like “like angel wings” with the water spray and glistening sunshine splashing off the paddlers in front of her.
In the distance, was a full anuenue (rainbow), both ends anchored in the sunlit peaks of the northeast shore or Oahu. There was another crew of paddlers behind us, and later on they beach they said, “There you all were, paddling right under the center of the rainbow.”
So the paddling was the main reason I went – and somewhat reluctantly at that (it’s a long story … ). The sidebar though – rainbows and rarely seen islands in the distance – these are the makana (gifts) that come from getting out there in life. I can’t have those experiences sitting at home in front of the computer.
The sidebar effect happens a lot to me when travelling too – it was the little errand I wanted to run when I met a certain someone or had a special treat that was unexpected and authentic in ways I could not have planned.
Some say that “somewhere over the rainbow way up high there’s a land that I dreamed of once in a lullaby” yet today I am happy to be right here under the rainbow floating on the sea, my friends and me.
