Smiles, laughter and testing the waters
Excitement, joy and a butterfly in the chest
The patterns of the past lightly looming
Yet to be focused on the palpable present
Has the battle just begun
Or can you simply find the fun?
Smiles, laughter and testing the waters
Excitement, joy and a butterfly in the chest
The patterns of the past lightly looming
Yet to be focused on the palpable present
Has the battle just begun
Or can you simply find the fun?
Shortly after my father died and my husband of 20 years and I parted, I decided to take a short getaway down to the beach. I had nothing in mind except to relax by the ocean, take in the
sea air, read a good book...you know...just get away from the noise and re-set.
The first night after a lovely day I had dinner at the cozy bar on the beach. The hotel was full with a convention going on...many languages were swirling around and I was curious. I asked the bartender and he said there was a sport convention convening there right before the Olympics and many nations had sent representatives there. Oh wow! How fun!
I gathered up my book that I still had with me and decided to call it a night. The drive was 5 hours long that day and I was ready for bed. Right as I turned around to leave a man came up to me and asked if he could buy me a drink. The words no thank you were about to come out but I looked up into his eyes and I thought I just might fall. I felt like all the blood drained out of my body but managed to squeak out .... sure that sounds great!
Let's just say at that moment I knew something extraordinary was happening here. And surely it did in the days that followed. After trying unsuccessfully to guess where his accent was from I was informed it was Icelandic and low and behold back in 1996 I really had no knowledge of anything Iceland except that it floated up there by itself in the North Atlantic. Today of course, it is the "in" place to go...but not then.
In the days that followed I thought...I'm just going to have fun. I have no illusions that this newly born relationship will advance any further than four days in lovely Hilton Head, SC. For the first time in my life I allowed myself not to think of the future and what could become of this. No sense in that so I let myself just be me. And he really, really liked that. I didn't plan ahead interesting things to say or clothes to wear or sites to visit. It was simply just me. Best four days of my life!
26 years later we are still in love. We've called, skyped, and visited many times...in Iceland, England and here. Our "in the moment" relationship continues. And in between he is in Iceland and I'm here. Love doesn't look the same for everyone. Ours certainly is quite different from most. It was love at first sight and without any expectations then or now it remains love each day.
I love this poem. It brought tears for me. My father knew he was dying and some of his last words to me where “I am sorry you couldn’t have children, but I want you and Gary to take your inheritance and have fun the rest of your life.” My husband and I laugh and do something fun every day. We take care of my mother-in law who has Alzheimer’s. She is 86 and lives alone in her house next to ours. She is a lot of fun and makes us laugh. We harvest crops together, work in our garden, walk at least 3 miles a day, go fishing in Alaska, walk dogs, my husband must play golf every week, I take horseback riding lessons, yoga, meditation, and we love to travel in our camper. I am retiring in a few weeks, and we plan to take fun to the next level! I am somewhat of a dare devil and will try almost anything that interest me at least once. For you Graham, I hope you find true love, fun and happiness. You are very deserving.