a story of an unforgettable moment.

cue obnoxious phone alarm tone.

my body jolted awake. i'm not one of those people that wakes up calmly in the wee hours of the morning. i get scared awake. it's an awful way to start the day, so after turning it off, i laid there a few minutes allowing the adrenaline to seep away and listened.

nothing. there was nothing.

i looked up through the somewhat foggy window at the stars peeking through the branches. so many of them.

we slowly woke up and more or less, in a sort of robotic motion, rearranged the car into a drive-able state. which consisted of shoving everything in the back with a couldn't-care-less-because-it's-4-o'clock-in-the-morning attitude. we could fix it later. necessities first.

with dawn quickly approaching, we gathered everything up and as quietly as possible made our way out of the campground. we followed the winding road up the mountain again, backtracking the way we came the night before. or rather, just a few hours before.

the parking lot was nearly completely empty, and thus a spot of honor required no competition.

i grabbed my camera and tripod and we headed up the trail, the dim morning light lending us a bit of a guide.

[ nostalgic lessons ]

   then.

   the floating melodies of jazz musicians in the street drifted past us. i paused occasionally to admire the multi-layered buildings, decorated with balconies and ornate black railings that wrapped nearly the entire length of the building. colorful shutters hung on either side of many windows.

   the aromas of spices and baked goods filled the air and lingered. 

   and colors. everywhere. all at once. it was as if festivities had permanently left their mark behind, a perpetual party of sorts with the celebration of eye-catching colors here and there. i noticed the fleur de lis emblem highlighting in various places. 

   there was a warmth. aside from the obvious physical temperature - the culture in itself was welcoming. the people friendly, the food comfortable. 

[ upon landing ]

   first off, to set the mood, do yourself a favor and have a listen to this:

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   the train doors shut and it slowly picked up speed, leaving the platform behind. the faces of my little cousins and my uncle peered after me, little hands waving goodbye. 

   that was the moment when it hit me that i was moving from denmark. two weeks left at the school, i had decided to take the time to visit family before leaving, making sure to catch up and enjoy the last moments. i just hadn't really fully realized what was happening yet. i had booked a ticket for home back in march or something, at of course at that time, it was so far out in the distance. but time fled past.

[ the unglamorous process ]

   look at that goober. just look at her.

   18 and ready to take on the world with all the gumption someone who didn't know what was ahead of her would have the attitude of. fresh outta YWAM and burning with the fire of wanting to change the world, didn't care who stood in the way.

   her hair was shorter. didn't have the side-shave as she does now. headstrong and ready to do what she wanted. independent and sure as heck proud of it. bent on her own ideas and rather less than willing to change that. didn't see the leadership capabilities that she had. reluctant to see the important side of working together with people. many good intentions, but not so much action.

[ can these bones live? ]

   4th of july, some years back.

   i was at the beach with my parents, staying with some family friends at their beach house to celebrate the weekend.

   while there, one of my friends and i decided to go exploring on the beach. after walking up the beach a while, we decided to go inland, following one of the many small streams/rivers that flow from the mainland out to the ocean.

   we waded nearly waist-high most of the time through the rather luke-warm water, jumping from rock to rock occasionally, and made our way through the tall sea grass that grew along the banks.

   eventually, we found ourselves decently far inland. at one point, we discovered a bunch of bones laying around, half-covered in the sand/dirt mixture of the river bank. it was one of those discoveries that many people would probably find disgusting, i mean, they were bones and all. but i found them intriguing, as i generally do with the body when it comes to muscles, the way things work, etc.