I originally intended the writing below to be a response to an email from a dear friend. However, I think it would be a fun bit to share on Void (unedited of course). Craig and I do believe that reality is far too interesting to be going about making things up – and this goes to show just how fictional fact can sound – just how interesting our real lives can be.
Written on 3-8-11:
On to how this finds me at present… when I read it last night, all I was doing was HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ok, backing up a bit to explain the fits of laughter – so here I am in Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, having hopped a plane from O’ahu on Sunday… my bunk mate had driven me to the airport and at the spur of the moment, hopped to the big island as well. A glorious day followed on that Sunday, as we were out and about in a red mustang convertible he had surprised me with (again). Yesterday for that matter was a completely unique and EPIC experience.
We set out right after I got out of work at noon Hawaiian time (haha work…) and went up to the Volcano that is Kilauea. After taking 500 pictures of the same steaming summit, I came up with a brilliant idea to end the beginning of our future meetings and to end the most perfect experience we had during the past few days (as he is to set off, back to the mainland today). We went and bought an umbrella, as it was pouring rain all day (the rain for that matter is another story for another day), some crappy rain ponchos (both only to protect the huge camera that would be our mission) and Chardonnay. Driving a bit south, we reach the dried lava beds. Walking through the crowd of people who probably spent 100 bucks on a silly little tour, we climbed for about 20 minutes through the lava beds to the black sand beach (or black lava rock beach if you will, for there was very little sand but billions of these awesome little lava rocks). Reaching the beach, we scouted for some fresh lava – but none was to be found. It was sunset at that point and we decided to stay put on a big lava rock and watch the surf as we toasted the island, the volcano and the field behind us with Chardonnay! Laughter is all I can recall – for we have laughed for days on end. All he kept saying the entire time is how I am the craziest girl he has ever met as there is no one else he knew who could appreciate the experience we were taking in at that moment.
So there we were, soaking wet from the continuing rain, sitting up on a lava rock, with a lava field behind us, the surf in front, the lava (we knew was) flowing on our right hand side, toasting to anything we could remember in the past few days and making sure that the “baby” that is the huge camera is safely tucked under the umbrella behind us – all the while laughing at the tour that was taking place to our left. About an hour after sunset, with the sky in front pitch black except for the white of the surf that rolled off the beach, we decided that it would probably be a good time to start heading back – as the tourists were long gone, he would be catching a plane in a few hours and I would need to sleep for this long work day ahead.
Turning around, we gasped at the pitch black that was behind us. Now, I don’t know if you are familiar with lava beds, but I tell you, there is no pitch black like the blackness of a dried lava bed after dark! Mind you now, all we had brought with us was my huge camera, an umbrella and Chardonnay (with the Chardonnay safely flowing through our veins at this point). And we laughed!!!! For that is all we could do! NO flash light, NO cell phones, nothing at all to guide our way, we set out by feeling around. I don’t think we went 5 feet before both of us fell off that lava rock we were perched on. Because of it, I had twisted my left ankle and knelt down in pain. But we had to continue of course… We started out again to the right, and BAM, we both fell off another rock, twisting my ankle even more – so we turned left, and what do you know, AGAIN! All the while laughing as we could not have made it ten feet from the surf!
Looking out at the far, tiny light we knew was the cafe across the street from where we started out, we began to wonder just how we were going to get back – laughing, laughing, laughing! Us – drunken fools, in the middle of this grand lava bed – me with a severely twisted ankle and NO way to call for help whatsoever – but luckily (if you can call it that) the rain had stopped! Then, at the first pang of fear (fear = fuck everything and run) I remembered the camera!! Oh how happy I was to have remembered to charge it that morning!
So, in fits of laughter, by the light of the camera flash, we hobbled back through the dried lava beds, toward the cafe. The whole time just laughing, stopping every 5 feet to let the flash charge, and then holding the flash with an occasional picture, we made it back just fine. Not realizing how bad I was hurt, we reached the cafe – and laughed some more as we looked down at my blood soaked foot. Jumping in the convertible, we drove to the nearest store. My friend jumps outs and yells “my friend fell in a volcano – I need band aids!!” – which he had a tough time choosing, between SpongeBob and the Littlest Pet Shop.
This, my friend, is when I reached for my phone and read your email, and nearly died of laughter at “how are you at present? Where does this find you?”
