Listening to: Alone by Halsey ft. Big Sean, Stefflon Don

Reading:  The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson) by Robert Caro

Warm, tropical, and safe.  The rooms painted in colors of the sea.  Bright blues and sea greens.  She walks me through the house.  Shoes removed at the door.  The very picture of Hawaii.  She is tan, hair trimmed short and clean, wearing a flowing black dress.

The house with well swept floors.  Every piece is selected in her house.  Every piece carefully chosen.  Pictures painted by her children framed in the hallway.  A Kandinski of circles, an Ansel Adams of stones, a  “Starry Night” created by a 5 year old.

All her books are used.  Well read and well loved.  Tattered covers.  Much like content rows of Velveteen Rabbits.  Two copies of one of Margaret Atwood’s books.  I knew the reason why.

“One of those is autographed isn’t it?”  I ask.

“Yes!” She eagerly grabs the copy and tells me the adventure involved.  Her story to get the autograph as exciting and colorful as all of her favorite books.

She walks me through all the rooms in the house.  The master bedroom and her sons’ bedrooms.  Both boys’ rooms are filled with books and art.  Hand painted pictures of whales and manatees on the walls.  Crosses over every entryway and over every door.

The crosses are warm and welcoming.  No browns or blacks or hard steel but created  with bright colors. The primary ones. Reds, yellows, and greens.

She takes me outside.  Her backyard a well kept jungle. The palm trees tall.  The highway noise  on the other side of the fence.  This side, however,  houses an oasis.  A line of wind chimes decorate the back porch.  One made of bones.

“I found these pig bones by the side of the road so I took the bones home boiled them, cleaned them, and painted them.”  She is a vegetarian.

“So you were paying honor to the pig in a way.  So his death could be made into something beautiful.” I say.

“Yes.” She smiles.

She cruises flea markets, consignments stores, and Etsy.  Bookshelves made of thick, strong, re-purposed wood.  A framed burlap sack painted with a lighthouse and beach.  An old card catalog shelf filled with knick knacks.  Rows of bottles above her kitchen cabinets with a potted plant over the sink.

A place of warmth and safety.  A place happily residing with strength, beauty, and independence.  A symbolic representation of the beautiful island of Maui, and a perfect representation of the woman who lives there.