I'm going to Kauai, and I'm taking with me...

To keep ourselves entertained on a road trip this summer, a friend and I played a game where each person says, "I'm traveling to..., I'm getting there by..., and I'm taking with me..." The first person starts with the first letter of the alphabet naming a place, mode of transportation, and object all starting with the letter "A", next person does the same with the letter "B", and so on to the end of the alphabet.

As I've been packing and gathering together my things to take to Kauai with me, I feel a little like I'm playing that game. The preparations are happening on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.

I'm going to Kauai, and I'm taking with me a basket with Joy, Creativity, Curiosity, Intuition, Improvisation, and a journal with which to make art that might not be pretty, but is REAL. I am bringing business cards that have my name, and then underneath state that I offer dance/movement and creative arts therapies. May they be my reminder that this journey is a threshold crossing. That it is a time of reconnection and growth. Shedding the skin that is old and no longer fits, in order to grow and expand. Aren't snakes incredibly vulnerable for several days after shedding? I take with me this vulnerability. I bring it with me to cultivate it, to really get to know it, to learn to use it in service of others.

I bring with me the red and gold sparkly shawl a friend brought back for me from India. When I first opened the package, I thought, "oh that's pretty, but it's not really me...it's too pretty for me to wear." I wear the shawl on my shoulders as a reminder of the inherent inner beauty I carry with me where ever I may travel.

I bring with me yarn and knitting needles as a reminder that I am a weaver. A weaver of seemingly disparate worlds, curling, winding, and twisting them around each other in just the right way to make a beautifully strong garment.

I bring with me an open heart and hands ready to tend the earth...