Falling Waters

In February, with his birthday money still saved from December, my husband began searching the internet for a weekend getaway spot for our anniversary in May.  (I am SO fortunate that that is what he chooses to do with his own gifts or football winnings.) 

Bar Harbor, one of our favorite places, seemed a good choice.  We talk about possibly retiring to Bar Harbor – him a park ranger at Acadia, me, the owner of an adorable café/bookshop where “the author is on the premises.”  Sherman’s could use a little facelift like adding window boxes bursting with colorful flowers and deep green ivy, best sellers and Maine-authored books in their extensive sidewalk window space, earth tone colors, upscale furniture, and a whimsical sign maybe. 

The winters Downeast are long…..Bar Harbor or Seal Harbor are rather far away…..not sure if those dreams will ever be realized, but going for weekends and “dreaming” is half the fun.  Ahead of our weekend, I bought Frank “Mr. Rockefeller’s Roads” from Downeast Books to teach us and make us appreciate the Acadia carriage roads even more. 

The upcoming ten-odd days heading into Memorial Day weekend rained.  My planters on the deck risked being washed out and I hated to think I threw $150 to purchase those flowers down the drain, so to speak.  Frank is a routine kind of guy and checking each day the 14-day forecast heading into our weekend really weighed him down.  

“No worries,” I smiled.  “We’ll be fine.  We cannot control the weather.  Let’s let it go.”

And you know what, Plan B is sometimes a welcome and enlightening avenue.  If it was sunny, we’d have sat beside the pool at Harborside Resort all Saturday afternoon.  

Instead, with map in hand, we drove around the entire island (in the pouring rain).  We’ve never done that on our travels there and we saw so much!  “The Bubbles” makes me laugh every time I say it.  How can anyone not want to go to Bubble Pond?  Seal Harbor and Northeast Harbor are definitely our favorites.  The views – breathtaking, quintessential Maine. 

Instead of biking the carriage trails on Saturday, we got a couples massage in the spa, something Frank has never done….and he was actually nervous!  What fun.  We laughed, sipped ice water with cucumber (which made Frank make a face), and ran through puddles in our flip flops across the courtyard back to our hotel, with wood fireplace blazing…..at the kick off weekend of summer, not dead of winter, end of May.  That's Maine!

We snuggled close walking under a shared umbrella along the shore path in front of the Bar Harbor Hotel.  At 51, we wore sensible shoes and 3 layers of jackets – which happens to make all the difference.  The weather isn’t bad when you dress for it. 

We sat in our hot tub on the deck, looking at Bar Island…and sometimes the fog.  We had an afternoon cocktail from the picnic basket I packed ahead, ate delicious food at local restaurants, and relaxed.  It was a welcome break in our routine.  

Frank and I, for being together so very long, are completely in sync with our travel – we like the same type of restaurants and food; the same sorts of hotels; and trips that comprise nature and exercise first and foremost.  There’s quiet and conversation, rest and exercise, and lots of photos. 

An anniversary in the rain and forty-eight degrees….nearly in June….in beautiful Maine on the coast – you know what…..it doesn’t get better.  

A New Day Has Come

We fly my younger son from Maine to Georgia this morning to begin his freshman year of college.  With mixed emotions, one of my longtime favorite songs, one that deeply resonates with my life with sons, plays in my mind……

I was waiting for so long

For a miracle to come

Everyone told me to be strong

Home, home and don’t shed a tear

Through the darkness and good times

I knew I’d make it through

And the world thought I had it all

But I… was… waiting… for you

Hush now, I see a light in the sky

Oh, it’s almost blinding me

I can’t believe I’ve been touched by an angel with love

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears

Let it fill my soul and drown my fears

Let it shatter the walls for a new sun

A new day has …..come

Where it was dark, now there’s light

Where there was pain, now there’s joy

Where there was weakness, I’ve found my strength

All… in… the eyes of a boy

Hush now, I see a light in the sky

Oh, it’s almost blinding me

I can’t believe I’ve been touched by an angel with love

Let the rain come down 
and wash away my tears

Let it fill my soul and drown my fears

Let it shatter the walls for a new sun

A new day has …..come

Photos:  2007 "life is good" age 13

2012, the most common view I've had for a few years - sideview, focused, at his Mac drawing

Céline Dion singing New Day Has Come. (C) 2002 Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc. 

The song was written by Aldo Nova and Stephan Moccio and produced by Walter Afanasieff and Nova.

Blue Moon

Facebook exploded with words and photos of our gorgeous blue moon earlier in August.  Full moons elicit magic and awe in all of us.  They inspire us and cause us to pause for a moment in busy lives to notice and consider nature

But what if you’re two?  Wow.  Even more magical. 

My girlfriend’s daughter, Miss Emma, is two.  They were laying on my girlfriend’s bed watching one of Miss Emma’s shows when all of a sudden, she said:  “What_is_THAT?” as she looked out the window.  Blue moon.

My friend hadn’t realized she’d never seen the moon – always in bed, not out and about that late at night.  Miss Emma was mesmerized and my friend tried to explain what the moon was – not that easy to do to a two-year-old and then again, everything is magical (and big) to a two-year old so maybe it’s just like everything else new in her young life.

Miss Emma took the pillow and put it on my friend’s lap, put her arms behind her head like she’d seen her Dad do on the couch, and lay looking straight out the window, just watching the moon.  

She asked my friend to turn off the TV….so she could see the moon better.

Little Kids at the Beach

Running.

Jumping.

Skipping.

Twirling on tippy toes.

Ponytails.  Gilligan hats.  Ruffles on bathing suits.

Plastic watering cans.

Pails in primary colors – bright red, yellow, royal blue.

Rocks, seaweed.

Pail shaped sand castles.

Mud dripped sand castles.

Sandcastles with moats.

And watching enthusiastically to see if the tide will rise all the way along the canal that will fill the moat.

Shimmering blond hair blowing in the sea breeze.

Frisbies, bocci, 4-square, football toss, tennis balls and mitts.

Jumping waves, shivering shoulders, sandy wet towels balled up on the sand.

Bologna sandwiches on white bread with orange Kraft singles and the red Coleman jug filled with Kool-Aid to share have been replaced with individual juice boxes, yogurts, cheese stix individually wrapped in plastic sleeves.

They’ll feel the pull of the waves when they lie down to sleep tonight – back and forth in the tide as though they are still at the shore.  And then sleep will come deeply after a day of fresh air.

I’d be freckled with a peeling nose and bleached bangs.  Our little kids are more carefully sunscreened, although still free and alive at the beach…and loving it just like we…still do. 

Photos:  Scarborough Beach, Maine

Blueberries and Rain Ponchos

My niece is the nanny for Harlan and Elias – two adorable, sweet boys.  She’s been their nanny since they were babies…and she’s a good one.

To keep them busy…in the rain… she brought them to my husband’s garden to pick berries – blueberries and raspberries.  Sometimes nannies and moms have to create from what’s available, improvising and using imagination. 

Farmer Frank’s farm is a small patch in the city, and despite the summer rain, she found oversized “Disney” rain ponchos for the boys that she and her husband had used on their vacation, put up their hoods, and brought them over.

 

A couple memorable quotes while picking:

"Wow, look at that white cucumber!" Elias, checking out the summer squash.

And, "Farmer Frank makes the best raspberries I have ever had! He needs to tell Daddy how to grow a farm."

20 Seconds of Insane Courage

“Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage

and I promise you something great will come of it.”

I didn’t see Matt Damon’s movie, I Bought a Zoo, but I saw the tagline above and latched onto it.  I think there is truth to it.

As I’ve aged, I have more fear than I did when I was young.  I have less self-confidence.  On the one hand, you’d think you’d have less fear and more self-confidence as more went right over time than wrong, but it doesn’t seem to work that way.  Perhaps we dwell on what went wrong over time or didn’t work out as we hoped or planned, so it begins to take us down a few notches, making us more fearful and less confident.

I love listening to people looking backward at the turning points in their lives and decisions made that changed the entire direction of where they were heading…. into the direction they seem so suited for.  Sometimes, it seems like one inspired thought or chance encounter, or 20 seconds of insane courage, is the pivotal point of change that guides someone in the “right” direction.  Twenty seconds of insane courage probably present to each of us many times over our lifetimes.  Do we typically step forward into the fear or stand rooted?

My husband, quite profoundly, believes music wasn’t Bono’s “path.”  He thinks the music just brought him to his real purpose – his activism.  U2’s music created the platform and the notoriety that allowed him to make deep and meaningful changes in our world.  What if he never lived in the twenty seconds of insane courage and never made the attempt to perform and play his music?  What if he went to work for the post office because it was a good, stable job at that time and a more realistic thing to do? 

In Steve Jobs’ biography, it describes the third partner who started Apple with him and Steve Wozniak.  Panicked, the third partner backed out early on and was given $2,300 for his participation.  If he had stayed, his ownership percentage would have been worth $2.6 billion in 2010!  He let his fear drive him and backed out on the risky venture.  The cost of decisions made isn’t always as clear as this. 

When I stand at the precipice, I am hopeful I will dig deep inside myself and live in that twenty seconds of insane courage.  Being conscious of it might give me the strength I need to live it, stand in that space, and jump off. 

Photo:  helicopter view of the Grand Canyon

Buddy the Elf

I have a colleague who, when she sees it’s me calling her, answers with a different phrase every time:  “Pat’s Pizza!” “Welcome to WalMart!” “Uncle Leo?”

Every time, I laugh.  It’s like our secret joke.

Unrelated, after 6 hours sitting in car dealerships one Saturday and getting a little punchy, as phones were ringing in the showroom around us, my son said, “Buddy the Elf!  What’s your favorite color???”  -- a line by Will Farrell in Elf when he was answering his Dad’s phone in his posh New York City office. 

I burst out laughing.  Remember, I was punchy after 6 hours there.  And then I knew what I had to do.

That Monday my colleague didn’t come into the office; her baby was sick.

Eagerly, I waited until Tuesday.  I had laughed ahead of my new joke all weekend by myself!  I emailed her, “Would you please ring me,” the way my boss emails me….but never for a joke.

She did and I laid it on her, “Buddy the Elf! What’s your favorite color??”

She too burst out laughing.  She’s the funny one, not me.  I caught her completely off guard and that’s when a joke is best, plus….her baby had been sick the prior day, the man she works with had slammed her the moment she had arrived that morning at 7:30 a.m. and she was not feeling very happy.  

And I changed her day!  

We laughed a full 10 minutes, moving on to other scenarios….like her buying me a velvet elf hat on Amazon and my suggesting the entire elf-girl-Herbie’s-girlfriend-in-Rudolph look with the triangle shaped velvet skirt to go with the hat and the soft shoes that curled up at the toes.  

Funny.  Silly.  Sometimes it’s the trivial that can turn an entire day around.