Genisis

Lake Naivasha
Originally uploaded by oncemore.

The air above the lake is heavy and wet, still as though it has hovered over the water all day with no visitors to disturb it. And yet there is something sweet and refreshing about its weight, a welcome change from the claustrophobic squeeze of the matatu which brought me here from Nairobi. I have escaped the city and now must only worry for the hippos, who lurk undetectable below the rippled surface under my feet. It is nearly dusk here, the sky turning blue to purple to pink, reflecting on the lake's surface in a deeper, mudded grey. But to a stranger walking into this moment, it could be mistaken for dawn. The potential of the empty lake before me suggests something on the threshold of birth.
Picking my way carefully out onto the worn and precarious dock, the smooth wooden planks below my feet clank together and make the sound of dry bones clapping.
The dark form of a bird slices through the sky overhead, and I am reminded I'm not alone.
The lake is my companion. Open, calm, waiting.
It is with this feeling of threshold that I stand at the beginning of my new life here in Japan. I have brought with me two suitcases and the love of all who are dear to me. Behind me lays the dusty eternal summer of Africa. Before me stretches a most beautiful question mark of potential. In between, my bare feet brush the smooth planks of anticipation, memory, nostalgia, and excitement, pushed together above the surface and warmed by the rising sun.