Missing the Landmark

Everyone has local vacation destinations they look forward to every year. The familiar drive is peppered with landmarks that serve to raise the excitement level. The twenty foot tall cow, the twelve foot high rocking chair, the ice cream store with a name like Molly's or Steve's - all of these serve to announce the special vacation spot is that much closer.

For me, the well weathered pilot's boat perched on a raised mound of earth as advertisement for a marine supply store was what told me the drive from Pennsylvania to Rehoboth Beach was nearly at an end.

Even though I now live in the local area, every sighting of that boat was a reminder of family and suitcases packed into a car.

The day I approached that well known bend in the road to discover the tilting pilot's boat had been replaced by a high-tech LED sign was a sad one.  While the sign no doubt is an advertising enhancement it is just one of many such signs that continue to pop up. A landmark it is not.

Breach

A dragon's flame
A heart's desire

A winter day
Without a fire.

Fingers stretch
A hopeful reach

A fist is found
There's no beseech

She turns away
One tear is shed
He watches her
Already dead.

Inexplicable Groundhog

Apparently the groundhog caught a glimpse of his shadow while climbing out of his tanning bed this morning. Given the prevailing weather conditions, that's the only explanation for the inexplicable prediction.

Which means I will continue to stare longingly into the full spectrum light by desk. A last ditch attempt to keep the winter blahs at bay.

Perhaps a mid-winter field trip is in order. That's the ticket!  I'll buy a ticket! A ticket to the southern climes. I'll bask in true sunlight while sipping one of those umbrella drinks, and dangling my feet in the pool

I'm feeling better already.

Gift From A Child

There is nothing so humbling as having a 3 year old show you a better way to do something you have struggled with for years...

...And nothing so precious as being reminded to see the world as a place where anything is possible

Of Love & Acrobats

She had always thought it was only in books that a person's life could change. Until sorrow unleashed behind a dreary bowling alley by the return of a letterman's sweater became an opportunity to set out across a dark, lustrous sea with a charming individual chock full of strange obsessions. Obessions such as dancing a flamenco every time a clock chimed ten, or guffawing at the tripping of an awkward person as though the moment were a cosmic joke. Despite his inexplicable behavior the stranger became her new love and the couple disappeared into the future like a pair of dancing acrobats.

Reoccuring Past

He found himself looking into another time. Gentlemen were wearing riding britches, shirts the weight of sail cloth, and jackets with sharply cut tails. Women wore gowns that pooled in abundance on woven carpets and decorated their forearms with gloves that ran from fingertip to elbow. Candles in mirrored sconces provided the light in the room. Refreshments included room temperature wines and salt cured meats.

The unsettling part was this all seemed familiar to him. He was certain the narrow doorway on the far side of the ballroom led to a smoking lounge. He was starting in that direction when he noticed a woman approaching. That face - her face - he knew it in his current life as well.

An Empty Ride

The merry-go-round drifted to a stop. Thankfully he dismounted before his stomach rebelled. When had the merry-go-round become a nauseating adventure? Getting old sucked. He stumbled to the metal bench inside the metal fence usually reserved for the mother whose child had insisted on the opportunity to ride alone for the first time. Head between his knees, he was behind the rest of the crowd in noticing the extended stall of the carnival ride. Angry mumbling finally caused him to look up. The last riders were long gone but the horses remained empty.

Rising from the bench, he called out "What happened to the attendant?"

A bald headed girl with blonde eyebrows and pouting lips tugged on his coat sleeve. "Sometimes the man who runs the merry-go-round takes people on a search for things.  You should be glad he didn't take you."