Lucky Bamboo

I’ve always wondered how the human spirit is filled with so much fortitude. How like the love we feel, strength emerges in moments of fear, and walks with us to the other side of the bridge.

This photo is from a trip my family and I took to Maui. We spent nine days hiking - and in Maui it is simply impossible to leave without falling in love with the ocean. Vacations often have a way of changing me. It feels like all the lessons I’ve accumulated from the life I’ve lived since the the last one, start filtering through.

This moment from our adventure, was immortalized at Maui’s Bamboo Falls. A park that includes 4 waterfalls, and each waterfall is more difficult to reach than the last. The day was humid, and the bamboo forest was thick. We treaded through the terrain to the first two waterfalls, and when we reached the third one, we quickly realized that this would require a little more from our bodies.

The third waterfall, required us to climb up rocks using only a rope, and without a harness. After, we needed to climb up a ladder which was barely balanced on another rock, followed by another vertical climb using only a rope. I made it up the ladder before fear set in, and I mistakenly looked down. I’ve never really been one who is afraid of heights, but for some reason I simply could not trust myself to make it passed the wobbly ladder.

While some of my family went on to the third waterfall, I remained back and that is when I captured this photo. In that moment I was in awe of natures capability and purity. The other waterfalls were out of mind, and I sat there thinking there could not be anything more beautiful than this moment.

When we returned to the beach that evening to watch the sunset, I began processing my day and suddenly felt a small bit of remorse for not at least trying to go further. I thought about all the times I felt like I wouldn’t be able to achieve something, or complete a task, but was always successful. Bamboo plants are said to be incredibly strong and flexible, so I wondered how I could leave my own strength outside the walls of the Bamboo Falls forest.

My innate optimism kicked in, because it does that sometimes.

I remembered that every moment has a purpose, especially when one is in nature. My strength has always been a part of my story, so I took a moment inside my heart to celebrate all my victories and achievements over the past year.

When I opened my eyes and looked at the ocean, I felt every drop of water from the waterfall trickling down my skin. Water that has overcame rocky rapids, and vicious currents just to be one with the ocean - like I was in that moment.

I guess when you are sitting on a shoreline, and the sun is going over the horizon, as darkness begins taking over the sky, it is nearly impossible to not feel like the tragedy was always, entirely romantic.