As I drove across the causeway this morning, I checked voice mail and was delighted my best buds Trish and Doug Cobb were in town, just blocks away.  I drove over and spent a few hours visiting with them at Linda Sands’.  It turned out to be old home week when Susan Rizzo, and Debbie and Brian Jeffries showed up.   I was a witness to Doug and Trish falling in love and I married them a dozen years ago when they were next door neighbors.  Special friends for sure.  Trish at age 80 last summer, did some standing paddle boarding on the Suwannee River. Granted, she is a tiny thing, (Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee’s wing, So fine a breath of wind might blow her away) very low to the ground, but — yikes — that was pretty adventurous.

We were going to walk over to the beach, and were waiting for others to arrive.  As it got later we said, “No, let’s skip the beach and go to Miyako for sushi,” and then it got later and Doug checked my tire pressure and showed me their new car.  I picked a white feather off the ground and placed it under Trish’s windshield wiper as a surprise for her.   I could see hanging with my pals wasn’t conducive to me getting my nap in before calls tonight, so I said my goodbyes and left before lunch.

Lunch. I began thinking about sushi.  I decided to stop in at Hioki’s for their box lunch, which is grilled grouper (or salmon or steak) with 4 pieces of California roll, some seaweed salad, two Maui tempura shrimp, white miso soup, steamed rice topped with dried seaweed gomasio and a small fruit salad.

I hadn’t been there in about a year.  I used to go a few times a month.  It felt good to be visiting some old haunts on my own.  Visiting friends, having a quiet lunch out, alone with my thoughts.  Taking the last few days off, I felt a giant stress falling off me, a stress I wasn’t even aware I had.

The last year I’d driven a friend everywhere they needed to be and I’d just noticed it was getting to me. I’m someone who formerly was used to  having many days in a row where I did not have to do anything for anyone else. Suddenly 7 days a week I’d taken on someone else’s schedule to accomodate.  The cells of my body were on call constantly.  My sleep schedule suffered.  Because of that, my work schedule suffered.  Because of that, my income changed.  When I began to see the pattern and realized if a change was to be made, I was on my own to do it, I began waking up.

I had to reclaim my time and reclaim my space.  As soon as I did that, everything began falling into place. My friend found other transportation, he suddenly had money to spend, my income began climbing and old friends began reappearing on the radar.  It made me real aware that I’d not been helping my friend so much as holding him back the last year by making things easy for him.  We’ve already said our apologies over that, we did not know what we were doing to each other until we were already stuck in it. But I apologize again for not knowing I was holding him back.  I also apologize for holding myself back, not realizing I was doing that.

Happy to be in my old, familiar places, I once again took a walk through Turkey Creek Sanctuary on the way home, just to walk down the boardwalk and take some side trails, just to see something new.  Earlier my friends had been talking about visiting the Brevard Zoo.  I’ve never been but I do enjoy my nightly communion with the critters here: the squirrels, the raccoons, armadillos, opossums, the bunnies, the birds, the bats, the bees, the snakes and reptiles.

I live in Paradise.  I have awesome friends.  I enjoy my time alone.  I love my life.  I have no complaints whatsoever.