Happy Birthday to You!

We headed out to the water at 4:30 PM, allowing just enough tidewater to flow in to get the boat in. But Brickyard Point's openness revealed clouds that were hidden in the tree cover at the house. I'd heard there was a thunderstorm warning for Charleston County, but thought it would pass much North of us. But the wind was taking the clouds east, and I could see lightning to the north and south. There was no escape.

So we retreated, and I barely covered the boat before the weather released. I had just shut the truck off in the driveway, when I thought of getting a DQ Ice Cream Cake for Alison's birthday party. So I started it back up, and went out in the rain.

We celebrated Ali's birthday on Saturday night. Here she is, happy to see that I didn't just get her a 'Corazon' (I pronounce it "CORE-A-ZHOAN!!") gift set. She was happy to get a new Ipod. She'd bought one for me while I was on deployment, when I knew it was one of those sacrifices that she'd have liked to keep it for herself.

Happy Birthday Baby!

And Sunday Dad came down. We had a really good fishing outting. He caught two bonnet-head shark. AJ caught a flounder (puffer fish) and a shark. I caught two sharks and two sting ray.

Flying Home

I came home with many thoughts. The views always catch me. So do the books I read.

This trip I read Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". It's his 117 page Pulitzer Prize Winner. It's written simply and strongly. I think it's a worthy read.

The other book I am reading is the intimately secret "Prince of Tides." I wonder if anyone's ever read that book to anyone else with much success. It's very personal. Fragile. Demanding. It's simply recommended without words. It's loaned from person to person, and I have just betrayed that method. Mom gave it to me. The pages are falling out, and many different types of pens have sketched in it, underlined thoughts, etc.

Over Arizona, you realize that noone should live there. The landscape is devastating. I took a few good pictures, which you can see here. I also wrote this:

"Looking down I saw a great vision
As if hell was making its claim on the earth
devouring a flat land with an expanding crack
the earth's skull was under microscope
and I could see the killing blow"

Bodies

I know where I am because the earth pulls me down
But sometimes you become my earth and
I lose myself
Our bodies have the gravity of lovers
And in the moments in between
There is no greater force

Two bodies pull proportional to our mass
Except when I am helpless
Gravitating to you
And I love the earth but I don't perceive it's beauty
Not when its held to your closed eyes
Your moments of peace

And I guess our love is my orbit
And I'm constantly falling towards you.

On The Road Again...

This week has been intense. The pace at work climbed to an all-out sprint, and I didn't get a warm-up with my trip last week.

This week's thoughts were two-fold:
1) I was 14 when my little brother was born, now in 4 years (short time), he'll be driving. That makes me... 2, 3, 4, 30. That places me right at the first number that people think about their age, where their lives have gone and will go, etc. 4 years is good enough, but I thought I had more. I still feel like a kid sometimes.

2) Mindset. If I were a coach, I'd be getting back Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neil, and Stephen Jackson this month. (They were the Pacer's players suspended for fighting with fans in Detroit during a game last season) I thought about what to do to make the team better with them back, and I've realized the best way to get good results is to explain 'mindset' to them. You could be upset at your suspension. You could get dismayed that NBA fans think you're a criminal. Or, you COULD focus on playing basketball and get distance between you and your suspension. People will forget, unless you remind them. I, too, need to consider my mindset.

Headlights on a Winding Road

I got in to Beaufort late last night. The trip was, once again, long. But, it seems to go faster since the groove has been cut. On decent into Savannah, I admired how different the lights were at night there than in other parts of the United States. There seemed to be veins within the lights, making it hard to discern a real pattern of streets. I saw tiny cars going around curves. I wondered about the people driving them. I noticed one car, who's headlight in the curve lit up the water it was navigating around. The veins are marsh tides. But something made me think that the driver of that car was a girl just like Alison. Her headlights guiding her winding through the night. In that moment I knew I always wanted to know where her headlights were headed.

In all the little people driving around, all the little stories, I'm dedicated to knowing her heart. I'm dedicated to be her companion. Forever.

So Come Pick Me Up, I'll be Landing

I'm done with my obligations here. So now, the long trip, filled with thoughts and dreaming.

See you soon!

Delayed/Dismayed

I sat in a lounge in a nice uniform all morning, wishing I'd bought a new book. Then at lunch, the lawyer told me he wouldn't need me until tomorrow afternoon, and possibly again on Friday morning.

My flight is at 1 PM tomorrow.

Not anymore.

I went to get a new book shortly afterwards, and came up with the new "On the Night-Stand" column to the right.

My Favorite Sensation

My favorite sensation may be my favorite because 'diminishing returns' never takes effect. IE - I never get in a bathtub that I fit in. Yes, a bathtub. I fill it all the way, relax for a little while, and then pull the drain. The water drains first at the shoulders, making them feel like melting candlewax. Then through my back and thighs, still melting each muscle into believing they're mixing with the water, then I feel my muscles in the ancles and butt give way, then into the arches of my feet, and finally my toes melt and race down the drain. What's left is me, without my body, without a muscle contracted or tensed. Then I get out.

Weird, huh? But it's the best, I swear, as long as you wait it out, and the water isn't soapy.