Reflection Rainbow

You know that girl, the one that just rubbed you the wrong way at first and when you hear about her you recoil in a hiss? This is the kind of girl that is going on a girlfriend getaway to which I've been invited. It should be a big group of fun ladies, but this one girl just makes me want to grit my teeth and bare my fangs menacingly. But it's Maui... and seriously, am I really gonna let this one person stand in the way of crossing this off my Hawai'ian drum list?

The answer for me, is Yes. It would appear to be the perfect situation; housing is free, car to cruise in, and partying up the bing bong. But it's not what I'd want - it would ruin my proverbial first bite into a land I've fantasized, and fake planned, and dreamt of for months. I dream about Maui the way 7-year-old-girls dream about weddings.

Maui has always been what I imagine going to mecca would be for holy hikers. Picturing myself climbing Haleakala, so afraid to blink that I might miss something, discovering the elusive silversword, and of, dare I dream it, experiencing akaku anuenue.

In an entry in Yahoo! Travel I read:

"This amazing optical illusion, called “Specter of the Brocken,” is caused by just the right combination of sun, shadow, and mist. In Hawaiian, the spectacle is called akaku anuenue (reflection rainbow.) Some, including indigenous Hawaiians, have likened the experience to seeing one’s own soul."

This is one of those things that I am willing to wait for (impatience is a vice, but I'm working on it) the right mixture of energies/people/weather. It might even need to be something I do all on my own. It has occurred to me that seeing one's own soul is not for the faint of heart. It's not one of those things that a person can just look at a picture to experience, it needs to be done to be understood.

I talked to a friend today - about illusions, and what that means in terms of human relationships with one another. There are those in life that you meet and they just affect you. You don't know why or how, it's not something you can Google or Wikipedia - but maybe that's why they call it "affection". You need these kind of people in your life, the ones that you aren't making any concessions of conscience for, the ones that in moments spent get better every time (and really isn't that the right direction?), when in their presence you can't help but beam, the Yng to your yang still you can't help but question, "too good to be true?"

I do not speak of lovers, though you could call it that, since passion has become for me the bright yellow of friendship rather than red ravishing and randy. Maybe it's more like that mirror sitting in the corner of the room filled with dusty spots. When you look at it you know something's not quite right but you can't quite figure it out. But than the illusion, the glamour is cast and all the smudgies get wiped away and it starts making sense. The reflection you recognize in that other, is the voice within yourself that you never listen to, because who in their right mind takes their own advice? But friends, with illusion comes magic, and that is worth fighting for. When this happens you finally figure out what matters to you and you're okay with refusing to settle for anything less.

So I'll bide my time, and keep my approach positive, but when coming face to face with the soul I'll need to realize, the goal was the journey and the journey the goal.