As my husband and I stood in silence on the ridge in Kokee, overlooking Kalalau Valley, I felt my mind and body begin to slow down and tune into the rhythms of nature surrounding us.  I felt a sense of deep gratitude that we had the opportunity to experience that kind of stillness.  We found a grassy clearing right on the edge of the cliff and as we lay in the soft grass and the wind began to pick up and gently caress our skin, we both felt suddenly tired and decided to take a nap.

A nap in nature – in a spot like that – is like having a couple hours of sleep.  I felt my body open up and literally felt the old ‘stress’ files begin to empty out into the ground and be absorbed and transformed by the earth.  I felt my whole being begin its natural renewal and rejuvenation process.   After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only 20 minutes – I looked up as a big wind rushed a huge swirl of cloud up the hillside right before us.  More cloud followed and soon the valley before us was being filled with white vapor as clouds came sweeping and billowing up the sides.  It was amazing to feel like we were actually at the same level as the clouds as they enveloped the valley.

Just then my husband said excitedly ‘This is Brocken Spectre weather’.  I had seen his photo of this incredible phenomenon where a silhouette can become highlighted by the setting sun behind and reflected in a rainbow-encircled cloud in front.  But I had never experienced this myself.  He said ‘lets go to that higher ridge’, and as soon as we stepped up into the sunlight, an incredible thing occurred.  The clouds kept swirling in and a rainbow began to appear in the clouds.  A circular rainbow.  Just then, he pointed excitedly ‘look – see our shadows’ and sure enough I could see our shadows, INSIDE of the rainbow in the cloud across the valley!  Time seemed to stop altogether - I was spellbound by this experience.  There stood a shadow portrait of the two of us, light radiating out from our center and encircled by a bright rainbow.  It was as though we had walked in front of a gigantic projector, and nature herself was screening the ‘movie of us’ onto the clouds in the valley.  Nature had gifted us a self-portrait that would be forever in our memories.

It lasted no more than a minute, but in that minute I experienced a feeling of being blessed and being in bliss.  This was the sacred ridge where we had made our lifelong commitment to each other.   We had said ‘yes’.  And here we were – having already been through some of life’s challenges together – coming full circle and reconnecting once again in this sacred spot – once again saying ‘yes’.

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