Kelp and a Floating Log

I view this photograph as a metaphor for my visit to Lopez Island. I felt like a fish out of water going into this trip and only towards its end did I begin to feel my sea legs under me. I landed on an island with a vibrant community amidst a grand celebration. I view this community as the kelp. That may not sound flattering, but hear me out. This community is a vibrant ecosystem, native to its environs and intensely foreign to my flat-lander Midwest senses. I feel like the floating log in the picture. Like the log, I’m just floating along, but like the Lopez community, I was embraced by the kelp and I eventually felt carried along home.