10/10/2024
These things are in our entryway when you walk into . I don’t know if anyone notices them or cares; it’s not important that they do. But every day I see them and remember my uncle, my dad’s twin brother, who passed six years ago. He was a sailing adventurer and a nonconformist. These items were his and came from different islands on his path. He left Maryland in 1979 on his sailboat, “Windfall,” -no GPS, no refrigeration, no water maker, or solar power, no roller furling (if you know what that is) and continued to sail the oceans for almost 20 years. Before I went to college, I flew to the South Pacific to live with him and my aunt on their sailboat. I sailed with them around Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji for five months—I was 18. There’s a lot I could say about this adventure, but this post would be longer than it already is…The experience changed my life.
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What I learned from being with my uncle is that my life is up to me. I remember the day when I realized that I didn’t have to follow the typical path of society and that it was possible to live my dreams. Since then, I haven’t listened to people who say something isn’t possible. Being a dreamer and bringing dreams to life is not an easy path. I’ve taken many risks and made many mistakes; I’ve broken many hearts, including my own. I’ve lived five lives inside this one; it’s not for the faint of heart. And now here I am at Ojas, doing exactly what I dreamed, with my uncle’s Fijian war clubs on the table reminding me to fight for the freedom I know is inside me- and all of us.
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Ojas is a place for rest and renewal, a place to transform, to fight for yourself, to be free from burdens, to express joy, and to let go of shame. If you show up here, you won’t leave the same. I’m rooting for you.
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Love, Gabrielle