To Be A Steward....

I remember the evening this photo was taken in February of 2015. Elliot and I had landed ourselves in Baja, on the Sea of Cortez. Olive was a glimmer moving closer to us like the brightest Star in the sky. I would be pregnant with her three months later. This trip, where we learned to sail together, work together, and get from Island to Island together, I am convinced is what tended to my resentful and confused heart, that made our marriage feel whole again and what reminded me of why I choose, again and again to spend my life with this man. I learned to love the earth the way my husband does. And I learned to love him all the more for the way he tends to Her. 

My husband, Elliot, has always fastidiously made sure we are connected to the whispers of this planet earth. And for years he had been asking me to go on a prolonged wilderness trip with him. In truth, I am not a backpacker. I like my bed. I like fresh food and kind of think trail food is gross. I love being outside all day. But I like sleeping at home. Elliot, on the other hand adores sleeping under the stars and I would go so far as to say this is not just a love, but a deep core need of his Soul. Like the way I long to be alone inside my body. It is not just a love, but a need for the quietude and solace of my own body home. Elliot loves the home of the earth. I love the home of the body. And so our union has always been about marrying the inner and the outer, the need for home and the longing for adventure, the pleasure of being earthly and the discipline it takes to tend this. 

And having a child. 
Parenting.
This is the union of DNA.
And Samskaras.

Anyway, back to Baja...

What I learned (or perhaps re-learned) on this trip was the importance of the wild, the rhythms inherent in the wind and the sea. And the importance of letting yourself be changed by the one you love. The pace of mother earth is slow but fierce. She demands your exquisite attention. And in return she will rock and cradle you with an ever-lasting spirit and love. The pace of evolution is also slow and attentive. We do not become enlightened with a pill or miracle drink. And when we surrender to the one's we love and also uplift their passions and soul's journey, we also remember that this life is not just about our own dreams. We learn that stewarding someone and something else is also a great gift. We orient toward a North Star as a glimmer of hope and chart a corse through all the elements towards that glimmer of fastidious shining light.

It is far too easy to forget that we are made from this earth. It is far too easy in the age of sole-preneurship, to forsake an evolution as a collective expedition into the unknown sea of becoming. It is easy to forget in those challenging seas why we love our partners in the first place and why we brought our kids through. But we must remember. We must. Maybe this Earth Day sends you outside. Maybe today you surrender to the rhythm of your kids. Maybe you take a big leap with your beloved.

When we remember the majesty of our earth we literally Re-Member ourselves.