Dropping Away

Thanksgiving day Shannon and I boarded a plane for Jamaica.  Oldest son Ramsey who lives in Saigon, Vietnam where he teaches English was in Pnon Penh, Cambodia for the weekend; son Anson and wife Becca and two daughters, Avery (8) and Lila (5) were in Texas visiting relatives.  So, empty nest that we were, we sailed off to drop cares and fatigue and the excitement of life and business.  We have not been disappointed.
     Like coming in from the cold, we took off hats, gloves, parkas, down vests, sweaters, boots, rag socks and donned polo shirts and shorts--- no socks.  This was symbolic of all the events of the last months dropping away, no longer needed or at least for the time being. The sky seemed endless with no mountains to define its limits; the sea was its usual seductive Carribean jade.  The salt water and the gentle, heart beat rocking of the waves peeled away care even more.  Each morning at about six, or first light, I get into the sea, the primordial mother calling, and let the salt and the rocking calm me.  Five more times at least during the day I do this baptismal.
     Do care and problems vanish? Of course not; but they recede and take their proper place, secondary to family and friends and work that you love ( I love writing and the competition of business).  As Renaissance artists discovered the importance of perspective, I too am amazed at what you can see when you step back and approach the vanishing point. All too soon I will be back in the maelstrom where the view out of my office window will be a gray skies, dirty snow, and icy roads. This will be occasionally offset by brilliant days and nights, fresh snow, and the headainess of being alive.
     I’m reading a lot:  Barbara Tuchman’s BIBLE AND SWORD, James Jones’s THIN RED LINE, Berlitz guide to everyday ITALIAN, a Simon Templar Saint’s mystery from the 1930’s, and the Economist.  Music:  very little despite a bursting iPod.  The sound of the waves is more than enough, it is the heartbeat and the lungs of this planet.
     No more for today.  Be well.
Ray