Day 16: Climb On #everydayadventure

White cliffs spike around me, jutting into the cerulean sky. We hike through the Calanques to reach the sea. Green moss and scraggly bushes feathers across cracks in the cliff walls.

We pick our way down the rock-strewn path as the sun bounces off the emerald water that ripples what seems like miles below us. The cliffs around us look as if clouds spilled beige paint down the sides.

On the puff of a pale-lilac flower lands a neon orange butterfly. I lean closer and the tip of my finger whispers against its wings before the butterfly drifts away.

Once I reach the water, I can hear strangers shout and whoop in a variety of foreign languages. Half-dressed men crawl up the steep surface of the rock island off shore.

One at a time, each man perches at the edge. His friends, standing several feet away, cheer (or jeer) him on, counting down until his feet release the rocks and he drops, with arms flaying, into the azure sea.

I slip into the clear water. The water curves the strands of golden light that crisscross over my legs. I sink deeper into sea the temperature of a barely melted icecube.

Sitting on rocks slick with moss, I watch the cliff jumpers climb, then fall, plunging beneath the salt-drenched waves.

Sunlight glints off the glassy surface. Across from me, tucked against the side of the cliff, a man sits alone and flips open a leather notebook. He taps his pen against the empty pages.

Like him, I want to write in the moment before the details slip away and only the feeling remains. Words tangle inside my head and I repeat the phrases until I can reach the notebook tucked in my backpack.

Sunlight crisscrossing. Rocks slick with moss. Salt-drenched waves. 

After our time in the water, we climb back up for another hour or so. With each step, I remember how we can so much more than what we think we can do.

Later that day, near 9 p.m., I walk alone back from Castellane with headphones in, my eyes straining to record the details around me.

The gentle sway of Josh Gorban’s song, Granted vibrates through my headphones. I cross the street, glancing back for a second . Half of the blue sky turns golden, illuminating the huge Castellane statue in the distance.

And I hear these words sung:

“If you have a dream go chase it                                                                                                         If you feel hope don’t waste it

If you find love embrace it

And never take a single breath for granted

The story’s yours, go write it”

Several hours later, after eating truck food pizza and chocolate, and laughing (and ugly crying) through Forrest Gump, I stay up for a few moments longer, to write my story.

To write about today, because I want to remember all these little details that turn a day into a memory.