Each year we do not go away for Christmas, we spend a few days in the limbo between Christmas and New Year’s on Orcas Island. The island, part of the San Juan islands, is tucked in the waters between Vancouver and Victoria, Canada. It is only a little more than a hundred miles from my house but it takes hours to get here.
You must reserve a spot on a ferry to take you to the island and you just arrive an hour before that ferry is scheduled to take your place. This year we could only get a spot on the 7:30am ferry, which yes, means we had to arrive at 630, leave the house at 5, wake a little after 4am. The boat ride itself takes an hour to 90 minutes depending on the order in which they decide to stop at the islands, Orcas, Shaw and Lopez on the route. Once we arrive on the island, the terminal is a 30 minute drive from the East Sound where shops and restaurants are located.
As much as we can’t wait to get to our Airbnb, I love how long the journey takes us. It services as a labyrinth in a way, a meditative place as we move further and farther from home and closer to our destination. I feel myself slow down more on each leg of the journey until when we finally arrive at the Airbnb I am in a completely different frame of mind than I was in Seattle.
This is good for we use this time to rest in ways that we never do at home. We read, take long walks, work on puzzles, we are on our screens less. In short we prepare our minds, bodies and spirit for the year ahead. After 4 days of rest, we cannot wait to attack the gym and our desks to meet all the hopes we dream for the next year.
Here on the island, I can only be present. It is a good reminder for a feeling that is lost in the hustle of the year and the bustle of the holidays.
I am ready for whatever this next year brings me. I know it is going to be difficult , hysterical, joyous and heartbreaking but I am ready.
Shemaiah! I love Orcas Island. My in-laws' ancestors were some of the first European-descent settlers on the Island and my mother and father in law love escaping there much as you describe. Happy New Year!
Wow! What a great journey!