I'm a legacy/digital marketing strategy and communications consultant.
It's been almost a year since that artery clogged... again.
It's been almost a year since they put in two new stents and told me to behave.
It's been almost a year since I took that last puff on a Marlboro Red.
It's been almost a year since I moved into this smaller place and downsized.
It's been almost a year since I started becoming the new me.
It's been a pretty good year.
I shut down the motor and tipped it up to avoid dragging on the shallow bottom, tied up to the buoy, grabbed my picnic lunch and waded ashore.
It was summer and a sultry 80°. The onshore breeze was soft and constant.
The only sounds, an occasional angry Myna somewhere back in the jungle and the lap lap made by the lagoon as it hung between high and low tide.
Though I'd come to this stretch of beach many times it always startled me a little when I first caught glimpse of it. It's isolated beauty always exceeding my anticipations.
I often thought about being the only one who ever walked there. Foolish, probably, yet I never saw another footprint but my own... ever.
Relegated to a memory now for several years, I'm overjoyed knowing I've saved enough for another visit.
Original photo by Ty Sawyer.
Downtown...
"When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go - downtown…
When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know - downtown…
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city.
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty.
How can you lose?"
Sort of thought this might make a good theme song since I've made downtown Brea my home away from home for so many years. If you're a friend, we've met there. If you're a client, we've met there.
If you were a stranger, we've met there and become friends.
"So maybe I'll see you there…
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares."
Today my thoughts lingered in the land of the southern cross. Tradewinds and Tiare. Salt air and Plumeria. The smell of the fire pit, breadfruit, poulet fafa, poisson cru, pineapple and coconut. Hinano by the pitcher. Ukulele, guitar, washtub bass, clacking spoons, the silent feet and swaying hips of a dozen dancing vahines. The onshore breeze that cooled me during the day shifting to the cool night breeze from the valleys and mountains. It is sunset once again, unlike sunsets anywhere else in creation.
(Photo ©jalsee808)
First introduced to them by their dad, Jeff, when they were 10, I was stunned by how mature they were for their age, even back then. A year later they published their first science fiction novel. Remarkable ladies, for sure!
They'll be 17 in a couple of weeks and are pursuing multiple career paths, at warp speed, with equal success. They are a testimony to home schooling and I encourage everyone with young children to check out their web site/blog and get to know the Winner Twins.
(iP4, ProHDR, Painteresque, Snapseed, Photoshop w/ Color EFX Pro 4.0)
They're all around and in wild bloom. Can't seem to go anywhere without finding them in great abundance. "Birds" have to be one of my favorite flowers.
(iP4, ProHDR, Painteresque, Snapseed)
Every life includes a handful of memorable encounters with remarkable people.
