God defend New Zealand

Tonight, my fate was to watch the All Blacks in a Surry Hills pub with 3 Kiwis. Like I do every time, I got chills from the Haka. And I sang the national anthem with them.
The islands are places that I remember with a part of me separate from emotion...like, I've shelved that devotion for now. But tonight, amidst my favorite accents on earth, I remembered again. I never looked on Lyall Bay without adoration, I never went on a run or a hike or a swim when I didn't feel like home. And every time my plane touched down there, I wished my family would be there to greet me...that Aotearoa was that kind of home and not just the one of my heart.
It's good to know that the devotion remains as it has since I first met the place in 2008. It is contentment.
And many thanks to Australia for the gifts she bestows upon me (not without cost)
This is so romantic and emo, but it is much like a woman feels when she meets her true love. She must go to be with him, even if it takes her far from her father and mother.

And I just realized.....
Hanumanasana.

What the birch tree told me years ago.

Mahanaway.

A tree with two branches going in two directions.
Wow. This won't make sense to anyone else, I'm sure.