Navigating the Storm

On Kauaʻi’s North Shore, it was a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon. Perfect waves at the beach in the morning, kids biking and and yelling to each other in the afternoon. The next minute, chairs toppled over on the lanai and kids barreled indoors as the rain slashed in sideways. Up on the bluffs where we live, the wind was literally howling. Blowing viciously in sharp, jagged gusts; whipping coconut trees around. Other trees were wildly thrashing, branches cracked, red and orange false Kamani leaves danced away, tumbling and twirling. The sky turned an ominous grey everywhere. I stepped outside for a moment to feel the wind....

And there she was. Floating effortlessly on the wind. Not even flapping her wings. Straight towards the eye of the storm. In shocking contrast to the chaotic wind and wildly whipping trees, she floated, moving gracefully and purposefully ever forward into that mighty wind. A metaphor, for these times we are navigating, poetry in motion, a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring female warrior taking on the storms of life.

— Ann Eu, Kāhili Beach Preserve Steward