Massage therapists don't spend their days off getting massages, in case you were wondering. At least this one doesn't.
A while back I built three raised garden beds. I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to do this — I think it started as a way to create some shade, utilize some pine logs my landlord had accumulated and step away from screens and bodies to do something with my hands that didn't require anyone's feedback. Gardening turned out to be good for that. Plants don't tell you where it hurts.
Here's the thing about living in Maui: the climate does most of the work. So when I started walking past the clearance plant sections at Walmart and Lowe's — the ones full of sad, half-dead things marked down to less than ten dollars— it felt almost irresponsible not to buy them. Most of them made it. A few did not. That's gardening.
Hibiscus became a particular obsession. They're dramatic, they're everywhere on this island, and they do exactly what they want regardless of what you had planned for them, (similar to cats). I respect that.
Spending a lot of time staring at and ruminating about flowers apparently does something to you, because I started drawing them. This also coincided with finally doing something I'd been putting off for a while — teaching myself Procreate on my iPad.
My original college major was graphic design. I loved it, but the timing wasn't great: I studied it right before the digital tools that now define the field actually existed. That's been quietly annoying me ever since. So when I found myself with a reason to sit down and draw, I decided I was also going to learn to do it the way I always wished I could have.
Not casually — I mean actually sitting down and producing finished pieces. Each design starts as a hand-drawn composition and includes a personalized sigil worked into the artwork. A sigil is a symbolic design created with specific intention for a specific person — think of it as a visual signature that's made for you rather than by you.
The whole thing now lives in my Shopify store, Mercury Loves Osiris
Massage is physical work. There's a ceiling on how many hours in a day you can do it, and your hands will remind you of that whether you want them to or not. Having something else — something creative, something that uses a completely different part of your brain — turns out to be a practical necessity as much as anything else.
The garden started as a way to create something pretty which would also lend some reprieve from the afternoon sun. The drawing came out of the garden. The shop was already created but I am in the process of recreating the niche as the garden is evolving. All of it was planned but none of it has turned out as expected. Similar to the Hibiscus flower attitude.
If you're curious, the store is at mercurylovesosiris.com
And if you need a massage, I still come to you — wherever you are on Maui. Both things can be true.
“Just loved my massage with Laura! She did a great job and is super knowledgeable about massage/technique. When we return to Maui we will definitely get in touch again....we may even do second massages on this trip if we can squeeze it in we enjoyed it so much! Thanks Laura!” Lauren McClure
