The Magic of Lemonade Shared
Giving and receiving goodness is soul medicine.
Perhaps the Sleeping Giant had something to do with this story. Mythological creatures tend to inhabit magical qualities, but what about mountain ranges on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? What about the power of suggestion and manifesting what one really desires? What about the unexpected delight of goodness given by strangers?
Three weekends ago, this story took place and it contained all of those magical elements; an island mountain range, the unexplainable significance of manifestation and synchronicity, and genuine joy and good will.
It’s called Sleeping Giant because it looks like a very large green man on his back having a nap along the ridge of the mountain range. This four mile, round-trip hiking trail was where a friend and I recently had ourselves an enchanting encounter with the two girls you see in the photo above.
Maneh and I began our trek a bit differently. She wore no shoes. I wore braids. She hiked barefoot by choice which I admired. A few years’ back I hiked barefoot out of necessity because the new shoes I thought would be a good idea to ‘break in’ began to rub my feet raw only a mere twenty minutes into that hike. I remember other people expressing awe that I would choose to walk the Kalalau Trail sans shoes. I let them believe I was ‘oh-so daring’ and didn’t say a thing as we passed one another. What I did say to myself at the end of that hike was that walking barefoot, while it had been rough on my feet, had been damn good for my soul. Maneh already knew before we started that what was good for her feet was going to be good for her soul.
How do we know what’s good for our souls?
I knew having water and snacks would be good for my body. I knew spending time with a friend would be good for my heart. I knew taking a time out from my computer and phone while listening to the sounds of bird calls and foot steps for a few hours would be good for my mind. I had no idea when I began the hike that what would stir my soul so significantly would have me returning down the mountain feeling somehow changed - believing all was right in the world again.
It was just a Saturday hike with a friend.
Yeah, right.
It was a reminder of how important and impactful small gestures of kindness can be to help all of us navigate through this crazy, cruel world. It was a sweet remembrance - a brief return to seeing what I was like as a child and a young adult; eager, outgoing, talkative. It was (as a dear friend of mine calls it) a divine reckoning. I am no longer who I used to be and…I can be someone new and somehow still be ‘me’.
A few minutes into our hike I say, “Maneh, did you know there’s a pizza and lemonade stand at the top of the trail?” (This is not the first time I’ve uttered this statement to a companion on this particular hike as well as to other folks who are on their way up as I’m on the way down.)
The barefoot maiden who’s ahead of me setting our pace turns around and grins as she says, “What? You’re lying.”
“Yeah, I am. But wouldn’t that be great if someone had a beer, lemonade, and pizza stand at the top of the trail? They’d make bank!?”
We laugh about this ridiculous, highly unlikely possibility for awhile and then fall back into silence together. I appreciate the ease that exists between us when nothing is being said. We walk on. We stop every now and then to sip water and take in the view. This is my third time hiking Sleeping Giant. This is the first time for Maneh. Unbeknownst to either of us, magic was already happening ahead of us on the trail.
An hour and a half later, we reach the top. We pass by two empty covered picnic tables and make our way to a small bench that overlooks a large part of the east side of the island. We sit. We snack. We take in the view for twenty minutes or so. The time comes to turn around and make our way back down.
One of the picnic tables isn’t empty anymore. Two girls in yellow t-shirts and black bike shorts approach us. The words I hear as they get closer to Maneh and I turn my usual topsy-turvy, upside down world right-side up.
“Would you like some lemonade?”
WTF?
I see the two girls dressed in the same attire in front of me and I look towards Maneh for a reality check. If only I’d been present enough to have taken a picture of the look on her face, but no…I have been zoomed offline into an entirely different dimension and I’m not quite sure what has just happened. Did one of these girls ask me if I would like some lemonade?
I manage to find words and sputter out, “WHAT? Did you just ask me if I’d like some lemonade?”
“Yes!” the blonde-headed one says like it’s the most normal thing to ask a stranger if they’d like a glass of lemonade at the top of a mountain.
And that’s when the magic begins…or the manifestation…or the perfect timing of the meeting of a few strangers on a mountaintop on a Saturday afternoon who all happen to like lemonade.
Maneh and I approach the picnic table and see four large glass canisters containing yellow liquid. The two women standing there must be their moms, but I’m thinking at this point they’re fairy godmothers and this is all a dream.
“Do you want a chocolate chip cookie? And also, would you like a tip of the day?”
Huh? What? Did this blonde-headed mythological creature extend a Tupperware dish of cookies as well as not one, but two cups my way - one filled with cold lemonade and the other filled with rolled-up pieces of paper?
“Uh, yeah. I’d like a tip of the day,” I say as I reach into the paper cup and pull out a small scroll.
She offers the cup of tips to Maneh and together we unravel our papers like the secret to the universe is about to be revealed. It feels like Christmas in April. It feels surreal and yet oh-so real. I’m not sure if I’m about to win the lottery or if the tip will somehow forecast my future.
Mine says, READ A BOOK, which is pretty damn close to the future forecast I’m currently in the process of living into. If that slip of paper had said, WRITE A BOOK, I very well might have believed I could have flown off that mountain instead of walking back down.
“What’s your tip?” I ask Maneh.
“Learn to say the word, ‘Love’ in another language.” she says.
I know Maneh already knows how to say love in Spanish and Hebrew. I know how to say love in French and yet, all I can think of right now is something like…
Holy shit. These girls are mountain-top gurus.
Oh, but wait! The cosmic connection is about to get soul-filled.
Me and the younger blonde banter for a bit about my tip - reading and writing books (she tells me she’s already written one called ‘The Quiet Kitten’) and when she finally pauses for a moment to catch a breath I ask her and her friend, “What’s your names?”
The quieter brunette speaks first, “I’m Valerie.”
The bold blonde says, “I’m Leela.”
“SHUT UP!” I say in my best junior-high, hip-girl voice. “My name is Lila.”
And with that, the portal to something other than ‘just a Saturday hike with a friend’ gets blown wide open.
Valerie mentions she and Leela are BFF’S and they like to dance. They both live on Kauai. The girls’ moms, Blair and Erin, get involved in our conversation. When one of them asked how I spelled my name she knew it meant ‘divine play’ in Sanskrit. In the swirl of everything that was happening, I forgot to ask them if this was the first time they’d hauled up four gallons of lemonade and a tin of chocolate chip cookies on their backs so that their daughters could make a difference in a few strangers’ day (or in my case, life) on the top of a mountain.
I have loved home-made lemonade for as long as I can remember. I used to drink it when I was Leela and Valerie’s ages (nine and a half and ten, respectively). I still drink it at age fifty-four and almost a half! Forget that Country Time shit in the can. I’m talking real lemons and sugar, good water, and lots of love. My BFF from childhood and I had active imaginations and created all kinds of crazy things, but I don’t remember us ever having a lemonade stand. Pity that. Maybe there’s still time. Perhaps that might be my next career - Having a bar where every drink has a lemon in it that’s been made sweet by the people both serving it and sipping it. Maybe that kind of lemonade stand would be called Soul Medicine.
After my Sleeping Giant-Yellow T-shirts-Lemonade and Tips for Life-Adventure a few weekends ago, I’ve been more curious about what exactly might my Soul Medicine be these days. What kind of goodness am I here to give and what kind of goodness am I here to receive? What might sustain me and support others now as well as for the rest of my life? What’s your Soul Medicine? I’d love to hear it.