Why is it that these kinds of weekends end so quickly? The weather was beyond perfect, I was able to relax, but now I have to go back to work on a day when, if there were any justice in this world, I'd be on a golf course.
April really is the best time of year here in south Texas. The weather is usually comfortable (highs this weekend were in the low 80s), things begin to bloom, and this really does becomes a lovely place. You can sit outside comfortably and watch the world go by as the warm ocean breeze blows over you. A good part of my weekend was spent sitting by the lake (the Gulf of Mexico is just beyond the far shore) in our backyard, watching the turtles and the copperheads disappear into the water. I'm not sure that it gets any better....
This morning, as the sun rises a brilliant pink over the lake's far shore, the birds are up and at 'em even earlier than I am. Standing on the deck with a cup of coffee, it's difficult to understand why I would ever leave, but then someone has to pay for the cat food, eh?
I've spent most of my adult life moving from place to place, from St. Paul to Portland to Cyprus to Portland to Minneapolis to Portland to Kosovo to Portland to Seabrook. For the first time, I'm in a place that feels like somewhere I could comfortably stay for the rest of my life. No matter how bad things get, I can always retreat to the lakeshore and listen to the birds or watch the ducks and turtles, or I can just hit golf balls into the lake. Even the copperheads look relaxed- not that I'd want to get close enough to ask. The sense of peacefulness and solitude is something I've come to cherish. My hope is that Susan and I will grow very old here, and that when I'm finally gone my ashes will be scattered on the banks of the lake I've grown to love.
Some people spend their lives looking for something like this. I pretty much stumbled onto it, and I'm grateful for every day that I have here. Now, if I could only figure a way to work at home....
