She went for it first. Then I did.

Before Elation, there was Ketut. She is my Mum. 

She grew up at Bingin Beach, Bali, the same stretch of ocean I now call home. Mum worked at her family's warung on the beach from a young age, serving surfers who passed through. She learned English not from a classroom but from conversations. From showing up every single day and talking to people.

She met my dad on that beach.

And then she asked him on the first date, she asked him to go fishing. Now, 30 years later they still go fishing together. 

— ✧ —

I spent my childhood on beaches watching dad surf from the shore. Mum would sit there for hours, waiting, watching, just being there. Patient. Present. Quietly holding everything together the way only a mother can. Running after 3 kids, something I couldn't imagine doing myself. 

— ✧ —

When I was younger I was a rat bag. I won't pretend otherwise.

But somewhere along the way I became a reflective person. And the older I get, the more I understand what my mum actually did.

She had me at 20. Still a baby herself.

And then she packed up her whole life, her language, her culture, her food, everything she had ever known, and moved to Australia. Knowing nobody. Starting completely from scratch.

Thirty years later, she's still there. Living a life she built with her own hands. A life she loves. A life her and dad worked incredibly hard for.

It's only in the last six years that I've really sat with that.

How bloody hard it must have been. To slip into a completely different life in a country you've never lived in. To raise a baby without your own mum or family around. To cook different food, speak a different language, navigate a different everything, every single day.

The courage it takes to ask a stranger on a date. To learn a whole language just by showing up. To move somewhere alone, with a baby, and just figure it out.

For sure it would have been hard.

But Mum never made it look hard. Or impossible.

That's the thing about strong women, they rarely do.

But I see it now. I see her now. 🤍

And I think so much of who I am, the boldness, the work ethic, the belief that if you want something you just go for it, came from watching her do exactly that my whole life.

— ✧ —

Elation exists because I believed in something enough to go for it completely, and now, Elation is built on the same values Ketut lived by, showing up, working hard, backing yourself completely and never holding back. Every piece we make carries that energy.

For the girls who go for it. Because she went for it first.

Mum taught me that. 🤍

— ✧ —

Excuse me while I cry...

Because here's the thing,  while I live my life in Bali and Mum is still in Australia, she is in so much of everything I do. The life I live. The choices I make. The people I connect with.

I came back here to connect to that half of me more. The half that is from Bali. Some may say to find myself, but somehow I find my mum every single day. 🌺

Even from a distance, she's here. In every offering I give to the ocean. In every wave I paddle out into. In every decision I make with boldness and without apology.

— ✧ —

This Mother's Day, whether you're celebrating your mum, a mother figure in your life, or being celebrated yourself, I want to say thank you.

To every woman who has ever shown up. Who has ever figured it out. Who has ever built something from nothing. Who has ever loved unconditionally.

You are seen. You are loved. You are exactly the kind of woman Elation exists for.

Love, Mel xx 🤍