Nothing. I did nothing, and a whole lot of it. I lost track of what day it was. I played Canasta into the late night (for me)
hours with my family. I read novels because they sounded good and I thought I
would enjoy reading them. I read the Book of Romans for the same reason. I
attended a funeral on the beach (see Part 2). I stood my ground (see Part 3). We
ate out a bunch, and we made easy meals when we ate in, and we ate a lot of
shrimp and key lime pie both in and out.
The water was icky due to habitat-destroying releases of
water from Lake Okechobee and full of jellyfish, stingrays, sawfish, and
something that created yesterday’s headline:
“Sea creature bites teen fishing on Sanibel shore.” (The television news described flesh hanging
off of both legs and feet, but the newspaper interviewed the sheriff who
observed laconically, “It couldn’t have been too big because of the size of the
bites.” I consider the whole affair to
be Nature’s revenge for the Okechobee releases.) Yet, even my well-founded
concern about habitat destruction and less-well-founded concerns about hungry
apocalyptic sea creatures roaming the shore didn’t dampen my utter enjoyment of
agenda-less days on a tropical island.
Snakes and lizards slithered by me while I read, and a 5-foot alligator
lurked along the bike path as I pedaled by, and I loved every minute of it.
As hard as it was to pack up and leave paradise this morning,
it feels great to be home! My to-do list
contains both mundane things and significant challenges. Settling back into the
regular routine feels comfortable and right, and I’ve got the energy to deal
with some of the more “interesting” things ahead.
On one of the morning news shows a few days ago (I actually
had time to watch the morning news shows!), there was a story on “Hail
Mary-Cations.” In essence, married couples whose marriages are in danger go on
a vacation as a last-ditch effort to save their marriage. Some couples report
finding renewed love while experiencing an African safari together. The news
story told also of couples who went straight from the airport to separate
apartments, with the vacation not having fixed the problem. While listening to
that story, I realized how blessed I am to have time away each year with my
husband and children, to renew these most important relationships. No need for a Hail Mary when the game is
going well all along.
Life is good, and I am blessed, and I am blessed to have had
some time away to remember how very, very blessed I am.
