maui

i am on my way home from an epic girls trip. husband surprised me about two weeks ago – he shared the news that he’d been planning a trip to maui with six of my girlfriends. the main purpose of the trip was to give me some relaxation after one of my craziest years so far plus celebrate that i am almost-cancer-free. many of you possibly followed along via instagram, and you will see a few of those pictures again in this post. the pictures speak for themselves – we enjoyed everything that maui has to offer, adventure was our theme. my friend jenn has a home in maui and she was our tour guide, and host. we all agree, it could not have been a better week. the most gorgeous weather too! so hot and perfect. We ended the trip on one of the sunset charters with fireworks, so we could finish our vacation with a bang!

what seeps out of these pictures is a deeply rooted friendship amongst seven women who cherish one another. all differences aside. bonds that are unbreakable. we have twenty-seven children between the seven of us, and we’ve survived years of challenges and happiness no matter the space that separates us. we’ve accumulated endless hours of laughter – we can be ridiculous in the best of ways.

during this trip, we had a theme song for this stage of our lives – brave by sara bareilles. i am going to continue this post with the words of the song…

You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast

Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
And they settle ‘neath your skin

Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins

But I wonder what would happen if you

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down
By the enemy
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing
Bow down to the mighty

Don’t run, stop holding your tongue
Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in
Show me how big your brave is

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

Innocence, your history of silence
Won’t do you any good
Did you think it would?
Let your words be anything but empty
Why don’t you tell them the truth?

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

***

crank up the song, here. collect good friends, and be brave. xo.

{photo credits: moi, becky kimball, and jenn granum.}