Did not want to smudge the previous lovey dovey post with this drivel...
Who knows what life will hold. I am generally an optimistic person. That is a trait that I did not have until I met my wife in college. I have maintained that through today. But dang, I am ready for some good things to happen. Even the little things seem to suck right now, particularly work related.
I have historically been a very laid back person. I grew up at the beach in northwest Florida. Most beach folk will look upon that with scorn, but every other person/place east of the Mississippi River love the beaches of northwest Florida. The beach was my babysitter...
My mom would pile us up and take us out to the beach for many, many, many hours. I am the youngest of three very outgoing boys. She would take her foldout lounge chair, a readers digest book (for those of you old enough to remember what that even is) and her beach umbrella; she would lather us down in No. 15 No-Ad sunscreen (again for those of you who remember what that is) plop down our cardboard box of GI Joes (for those of you who ....) and let us go to town for those many hours. We never stopped until it was time for lunch. Who remembers when a good lunch consisted of an RC Cola, bologna sandwich/vienna sausage, individual bag of chips and the coup de grace ... Moon Pies!!!! Raise your hand if you want to be in that scene, on that sugar white sand beach with the surf roaring, under that umbrella eating that meal...I thought so...
Man, I love the beach! I love the beach lifestyle. One day when the time is right, I will be there again.
Shark fishing from the shore at night, redfishing from shore at Pensacola Pass, Blue Angels twice a year, scalloping, riding my bike to the grass flats at shoreline and fishing for specs with my favorite jig, fishing with a gill net with the family, fishing from the bridges for white trout and croaker (that was never about the food, it was always about spending time with Dad), throwing the cast net for mullet, skiing behind the behemoth of a boat we had, backyard fish frys and hush puppies with family friends after fishing all day, walks on the beach at sunset, 25 mile bike rides on the beach as the sun rises, sleeping in at the beach condo after a night out with buddies and listening to the roar of the surf, oysters on the half shell, beach bonfires (when you could still do that), simple nights out with friends talking about life and laying there looking up at the stars, reggae and acoustic sets at the outdoor local bars, draft beer and bushwackers and long island ice teas, jumping off "the levels" under the bridge, nothing like the 4th of July fireworks in a beach military town, the electicity in the air on a beach saturday night, Mayokis, Fiesta of Five Flags, Mardi Gras, backyard pool nights laying still in the water and watching the bats dive down for a skim across the top of the water, and my favorite two memories ... laying on the pier at shoreline with Joe watching shooting stars at 3 a.m. because we were the only ones without curfew and proposing to my wife on a cold March day with the roar of the surf outside the open 5th floor condo windows ...
Man that is a life well lived. I am not well traveled. I have been a few places. But I try to saturate myself in the qualities of life whereever I happen to be. Shooting stars, rainbows, sunrises and sunsets...beauty and the joy of the world are around you all the time, you just have to look, feel, smell and sense it ... soak it in ...
Took a facebook quiz that said if I was a Jimmy Buffett song I would be Tin Cup Chalice...
"I wanna go back to the island
Where the shrimp boats tie up to the pilin'
Gimme oysters and beer
For dinner every day of the year
And I'll feel fine, I'll feel fine
I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and lie beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice, fill it up with good red wine
And I'm chewin' on a honeysuckle vine"
No comments:
Post a Comment