Hope Town

Finally, I have returned from my lengthy sabatical.  I believe it's important for me to return to blogging in order to again grasp some type of authenticity in my life.  An authenticity that otherwise seems to elude me in my day to day doings.  I'm currently in the Abacos, Hope Town specifically; it's wonderfully refreshing - life moves at a slower pace here and I've adjusted to stay in time with it.  I didn't even bring my watch with me, the day, the time is irrelevant to me here, I'm just completely relaxed in a way I never seem to be able to achieve at home.  There are so few distractions or perhaps I just don't need them at this point in my life - I don't even really feel a need or a desire to shop; which is completely out of character for me.  It was almost a chore to find the couple of souveniers I needed to bring back for people.  Normally I wouldn't be able to keep myself out of the shops and the only thing that typically limits my shopping is space in my suitcase, even lack of funds can be overcome with plastic.  I hope that somehow I will be able to retain what I've found here when I return home.  They say you take your mind with you, which in the past has meant I brought it from home to here, so hopefully it works in reverse and it will go from here to home!  I'll know soon enough.  I think I'll have lunch soon and then go for a walk on the beach and a swim if the wind has died down a bit.  I don't feel it's terribly prudent to swim alone with no one else on the beach - I certainly know how to swim, but given I have a problem with my right shoulder, it's foolish to test fate. 

I finally feel at peace, which has never been the norm for me.  I almost think in part it's because I've finally found a friend who truly understands me, perhaps because we're so much alike.  I feel safe to be myself, no pretenses, no feeling judged or misunderstood - we could almost finish sentences for each other. There's certainly something to be siad for being understood, being able to connect on a very deep level with another human being - it mitigates the isolation that tends to surround us all to varying degrees.

It's amazing how tranquil watching all the boats anchored in the harbor feels.   Hopefully if I get a base tan we can start sailing, if we get out during the week the waterway shouldn't be frantic with boaters like it is on the weekends.  Maybe I'll even learn to sail - this isn't the ideal time, heading into a south Florida summer, but as they say, there's no time like the present, never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, and all that jazz!  Actually, that's what I've always done, put off until tomorrow because I'm always waiting for the perfect time, for all the planets to be aligned and all loose ends to be neatly tied up; which I've finally realized will never be - that's simply a fantasy that only exists in Camelot!

Well, I think it's time to pull myself out of this chair and head to Vernon's grocery for some bandaids and then wander over to the beach.  I finally saw pink sand, it's beautiful; made of sand and crushed shells, I'm not sure where it came from but there were scattered patches on the beach.  I believe I'll miss the beach more than anything, a pristine, deserted expanse of sand and sea that's just steps from town - it's hard to fathom  the contradiction; it's so close yet seemly so removed.  We have beaches at home, but none this clean and absolutely none this empty.  I doubt the estates on Palm Beach are this private!