Paradisio - 9spiration

I wake early, remembering some fragment of an argument I had with my boyfriend the night before. We discuss it and I scrub away the three tears that somehow came loose, another reminder that my hormones are rising like the tides are now in response to the coming full moon. We agree that we agree and hold each other as two people who know each other's bodies well do, tender at times and with total abandon.

The morning is a perfect summer sunrise. I listen for the waves and hear the constant cooing of doves, rooster cries from their inverted bamboo baskets, the occasional song of a tropical bird, and the faint buzz of the motorbikes on the only road on the island. The sky is a pale blue and huge clouds roll across its surface, bringing welcoming shade for the heat and I sit on the porch of our bungalow and watch its passing through palm fronds and over terra cotta roofs. Paradisio.

Nearby a yoga class emits the occasional dischordant song of "ommm"s and the locals who work here move through the grounds, raking every bit of sand, grass, rock, deliver omlettes, back in perfect straight posture from a lifetime of balancing incredible amounts of weights on their heads. Aaron chats with new friends and researches hotels for our next destination, a surf beach in Marissa, Sri Lanka. I contemplate napping before commandeering the computer for hours of work punctuated by dips in the pool, a meal of Nasi Goreng eaten with my fingers, a sunset walk on the beach with ice cold beer in one hand, his hand in my other.

Oftentimes people refer to experiences as "real life", as though a morning such as this cannot be real. I suspect that for me, this belief was born from such concepts as real life being one of stress or hurry or discomfort. That joy and happiness can be purchased with the coin of sweat, of effort, of "reality". A neat exchange of difficulty resulting in the "unreal" happiness that stretches between the regular sunrise and sunset of an equatorial island life. What I do know for sure is that everytime I check into the reality of my current moment, I find a wellspring of joy as warm and bright as the sun living in my chest.

Paradisio.

sunset