Connection to my environment feels more natural to me in many ways than relationships to people. Maybe that’s why I attribute human qualities to this beloved Island. I believe Gabriola has a persona. She is a loving trickster and a sorceress. She embraces us and shows us our light and she reveals to us the dark places we fear to go.
It’s easy to romanticize full-time life on an island, imagining it is like one long vacation. It isn’t. There are challenges. Primarily being confronted with one’s self. You can run, but you wind up right back where you started eventually. You can hide, but not for long. She keeps delivering the lessons I must learn. She overloads me with so much beauty and inspiration I am frustrated with my human limitations as I attempt to capture some small piece of her. “I don’t know what I’m doing” I whine at her. “Nobody does, just keep going” she laughs.
So I’m ‘Winging it’. I’ll keep painting birds until I learn something about taking flight and I’ll keep painting trees until I grow roots.
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