Florida, Oddly Enough

 

Taking photos at the beach

It's hard to believe that weeks can go by without even a thought of that warm sandy beach just minutes away. Well, sometimes 30 minutes, considering parking, when it's snowbird season. In the bottom left of this photo there appears to be a ghostly steamship instead of the happy accident of clouds. Florida could just as easily be The Big Sky state. That would be greedy though;  what else does Montana have? I love sky watching, here. Oceanside or not. Looking through the pines and palms at a turquoise hue is just as beautiful. The sky and clouds, considered and admired,  provide a perspective shift, too. When you've stopped gazing up there, often your focus shifts to....in here.

 July 4, 2018 was my arrival date in Florida. I was pulled away from direct interaction with difficult family concerns and deposited squarely in the midst of others. It's been a time to focus on endings, and the significance of examining my own life, motivations, themes, and desires in that context. We don't know how long we will be traversing this earth, how many days are left to us. In the midst of those considerations, certain memories tug and pull, inviting me to linger over details, to dig down deeper. I've been surprised, bereft, convicted, and regretful, and further pulled to layers of observation that have allowed me to know myself more honestly. In this process, I have seen that what we are, what we play at and involve ourselves in, in life, is made up of competing factors. Some formed as our response to family and society, some arose from deep in our psyches. In some respects we have no choice. The older we get, though, the easier it becomes to spot our habitual foibles, give them a baleful glance, or toy with them momentarily, looking for one more shred of truth, before we let them slide away under the waves.

For the coming year, my wish for myself and all of you, is time for introspection, melancholy or not, and the lessening of burden that comes with letting things go.

~Dorothy Dolores