The end...and the beginning

Aloha kakou -

I am sitting in a warm firelit house in Whatawhata, Aotearoa, as the rain beats down outside.  There's a pretty good low developing out there, and we should be pretty well inundated for a few days.  My friends (and possible cousins) Hoturoa and Kim Barclay-Kerr are kindly alowing me to stay at their halfway house for hopeless waka addicts.  I am very grateful to be in a house of love and light for a while.  Leaving the wakas in Espiritu Santo tore a hole in my heart.  I am so used to the life of adventure, the sound of the sea, the feel of the deck under my feet...so hard to go.  My fellow holomoana, I know you understand.  Yesterday, I was at Kirikiriroa Marae, helping prepare food and clean as Hotu held a seminar.  He brought Faumuina and I in to be introduced, and then showed the latest "Our Blue Canoe" trailer.  I remember when I first saw a trailer in Hawai'i last year, and the magnitude of the project touched me.  BUT...I just saw random faces.  Seeing the trailers since then, I saw family: brothers and sisters.  I saw faces I love and may not see for a while.  So I cried. 

Making voyaging a way of life is extremely difficult; there's little money in it, except for certain very specific positions.  Mostly, it is a labor of love so great that it requires life-changing sacrifices.  Many of the holomoana have left families for months and even years.  Many have left jobs and projects behind. I am lucky to have both to come back to.  Many are homesick and tired, but are finally seeing the light at the end of the journey.  The Facebook chatter has died down, indicating that the wakas have finally gone on their way from Santo.  Uto Ni Yalo, Hinemoana, Okeanos and now Marumaru Atua are on their way to Port Vila, and then to Tonga.  Haunui, Te Matau A Maui and Faafaite are going to Port Vila and then on to Noumea.  From there, they will make their way here to Aotearoa.  The chatter was going strong through about 2:30 this afternoon, as we said our last goodbyes and sent thought and prayers with the voyagers.  I was on Facebook until 1 am myself, catching up and letting go. 

And so the next journey begins for me...how do I translate the enormity of this experience for my students, family and peers?  How do I keep myself involved in the waka projects?  How can I help to further the purpose of these voyagers?  How do I NOT lose this family?  Soon all the voyagers will face these same questions as individuals and as voyaging entities.  I can see that living the new dream will entail new sacrifices and new hardships, but the possibilities are endless...and the stars are shining bright.