hold.

we’re in Kauai right now for my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday (okay, 71st… COVID mulligan) and it’s magical. the whole family went to Tunnel Beach today to snorkel and hang. when we finally all got settled, I saw an opportunity to go snorkeling with my beloved sister-in-law, Liv. (wait… she’s my husband’s brother’s wife… still sister-in-law, right? regardless, she’s awesome.) so we took off and swam around a bit… saw a flurry of schools of fish and checked in with each other as we swam by this big, scary drop-off. on the way back in, Liv stopped and pointed and I saw—a sea turtle! it was huge! just suspended there, eating, being magical. Liv and I held hands and watched—like young girls. friends. who adventured together.

a bit later in the day, Evan and I had an opportunity to snorkel together. I wanted to take him out to where Liv and I had seen the turtle. the sunlight was coming through the water like a laser show. the lighting was beautiful and bright and it was such an adventurous feeling. soon enough, Evan and I saw a turtle! and then another! there were two turtles, hanging out kind of together… and it was pure magic. I thought about Liv and I holding hands and I thought, I wanna do that with Evan. so I looked at him, adoringly… he was on the other side of the turtles… and I started swimming towards him. I wanted to come up beside him and just hold his hand and watch these magic turtles together. so I swam faster. when I was almost to this beautiful husband of mine, I felt this hard tug on my leg. terrified, I turned around and popped up over the water. Evan was behind me. he had pulled my leg.

I was about to hold hands with a stranger. I was swimming towards the wrong guy. I almost saddled up to a stranger, snorkeling, and tried to hold his hand. thank GOD Evan grabbed my leg… though, for a second, I thought a turtle was attacking me.

I went back to shore and told my story to Liv and the rest of the family and we all laughed. and marveled at how ridiculous and lovely and magic this life is… not like magic enough to hold hands with a stranger underwater… but close.

[this family lyfe.]