URAL Patrol Crosses US Border

I LIKE THAT Bellingham, Washington, United States of America was our destination on May 9, 2012. It was the first time Frank and I crossed the border on our URAL bike. In order to get off the Vancouver Island, we ferried across at Nanaimo and rode south on Highway 99 to the Peace Arch Crossing. The crossing officer accepted our passports and waived us through. Our first stop was the Custer Rest Area where we shook our hair loose from under our helmets and relieved the pressure of coffee consumed on our first leg of the trip.

The purpose of our excursion was to have the bike maintained by a reputable shop, to meet up with Frank’s daughter, Misty, and her children, and for me to shop in Meridian Village where I purchased two beautiful dresses. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with family and had many opportunities to share stories and laughter.

Bellingham has an open-space, country feel to it. Frank was most impressed with the sharp edging of the grass as it met the sidewalk from the boulevards and business properties. The family decided unanimously that we would make Bellingham an annual destination.

Black family meets in Bellingham, USA

Border crossing view and Custer pit stop

Va Va Voom

Va is celebrated by the Samoans as a relationship that consistently defines and redefines itself in the space between two people, places and things. It is considered by the Samoan culture as a unique entity that contains unspoken expectations and obligations. Va is the inherent and changeable patterns of obligations and expectations between people and their environment.

A friend who has had direct experience with the people of Samoa brought Va to my attention. She explained that our North American sense of relationship has a great deal to do with how we feel about another person’s impact on you, while in the Samoan culture, the Va space is viewed as the stage upon which all patterns carry meaning. Each person is responsible for the condition of Va and so whatever meanings are held within Va are the responsibility of the person who put them there.

I love the way the word sounds and the tender vibration it produces on my lower lip. I’m learning to use it in my everyday conversations with people. I hope that Va can help me with my relationship with my son, reinforce my love for my husband, express gratitude toward my friends, and bring my passion for God to front of mind.

Vā is the space between, the between-ness, not empty space, not space that 

separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together

in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things.  The 

meanings change as the relationships/contexts change.

Albert Wendt